Dragon Age II

 Xbox 360
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2466 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 795 out of 2466
  2. Mixed: 431 out of 2466
  3. Negative: 1,240 out of 2466
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  1. not_good
    Mar 23, 2011
    4
    This game is **** great if you love jrpg's.

    If you like $60 epic sequels from premiere developers to award winning and critically acclaimed games, you will be disappointed however.
  2. Fireside
    Mar 21, 2011
    4
    So initially I wasn't too upset with this game, but I decided to go back and play DOA over the weekend. Man, you haters are right: this game sucks. Everything about it is tragically inferior to its predecessor, even the graphics. F you Bioware. This game is garbage and you know it.
  3. Nekator
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    Sadly DA2 is no roleplay Game in my Oppinion anymore. The only thing this game has is fighting (with much blood and exploding hordes of enemies - like the Marketing said.. for every button something flashy happens) also there are no Skills anymore, beside the fighting skills... The other thing is the story presentation, which Bioware still is good at.
    But things like the restricted    Sadly DA2 is no roleplay Game in my Oppinion anymore. The only thing this game has is fighting (with much blood and exploding hordes of enemies - like the Marketing said.. for every button something flashy happens) also there are no Skills anymore, beside the fighting skills... The other thing is the story presentation, which Bioware still is good at.
    But things like the restricted inventory and kodex entries (50% percent of the things you find are nondescript junk?? really?), the MMO Interface.. this all makes it to an Action Adventure at best. As a roleplay game it sadly fails in nearly every way :(    … Expand
  4. ErraticUnicorn
    Apr 19, 2011
    4
    Here lies a perversion of the original Dragon Age. Shedding anything that made it special, leaving it devoid of a soul and presenting the bare-bones minimum for this game to be functional. Repetitiveness lazy level, enemy, and quest design all make for a mediocre game.
  5. hokum
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    Just dire. Did not think BioWare could make games this bad. Is it the EA effect? This is neither a proper action game nor a proper RPG - it's some mutant ugly hybrid trying to appeal to both types of gamer, and failing. And a cliffhanger ending? So much for epic story - just an ad for some DLC or DA3. The graphics are worse than Dragon Age 1, like some 2005 console port. The combat is justJust dire. Did not think BioWare could make games this bad. Is it the EA effect? This is neither a proper action game nor a proper RPG - it's some mutant ugly hybrid trying to appeal to both types of gamer, and failing. And a cliffhanger ending? So much for epic story - just an ad for some DLC or DA3. The graphics are worse than Dragon Age 1, like some 2005 console port. The combat is just a button mashing cartoon, dumbed down from DA1. LOTS of things have been cut. It's short - like 12 hours for the main campaign. The characters you meet feel lifeless, and the same scenery is recycled. To hide this, BioWare stuck in lots of bink cinematics and sex scenes. Get ready to be fleeced with tons of DLC now that will raise the cost of this disgusting trainwreck to over $100. Last BioWare game I buy - I dont even trust they can do Mass Effect 3 right after this.â… Expand
  6. Enshia
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    After nearly 10hrs of game play I'll start with the "game is a step backwards" statement. Anyone who believes otherwise is a blind fanboy(and yes I really did and do like previous BW titles and was a fanboy). The real problems start when the game moved from a cRPG(dao/a) to a action RPG. Where your PC does lightening fast **** that makes things explode! Well I suppose if you like that,After nearly 10hrs of game play I'll start with the "game is a step backwards" statement. Anyone who believes otherwise is a blind fanboy(and yes I really did and do like previous BW titles and was a fanboy). The real problems start when the game moved from a cRPG(dao/a) to a action RPG. Where your PC does lightening fast **** that makes things explode! Well I suppose if you like that, this game is for you. There's serious problems with how bosses are dealt with. First if you attack a boss, they spawn 'friends'. Then as you keep attacking them, they spawn more, and sometimes more! This is the cheap way of making content hard. Sure I can understand having minions, but repeatedly spawning 8 groups of 10 mobs to make something difficult? No dice. The level designs are lack luster(the city itself is pretty). But you're going to revisit the same areas, again, and again, and again. Did I mention going to the same areas again? Maybe not. You will not have party conversations while out and about, nope you must goto their house/building/hideout. The difficulty scaling is messed up, no longer following a core set of rules. If you're waiting for us modders to fix the game? Well who knows, because they have yet to even say if we'll get a toolset. And the original toolset doesn't work in the game, missing assets and all that.

    I could carry on with the spell changes, and several other things but there's no real point. I'll say this, if you want to buy the game wait for the super-ultra-deluxe version, where you won't be nickeled and dimed over DLC. And hopefully by then we'll have a toolset, and be able to fix this horrid game.    … Expand
  7. Sabiancym
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    Yet again a company decides to "improve" their game by removing the complexity and mechanics that made it great in the first place. No longer can you equip your companions with any item you find, you now have set upgrades. The skills have also been dumbed down. Removing or merging skills like trap-making, poison making, etc.

    The combat is also a mess. A slight speed up would have done    Yet again a company decides to "improve" their game by removing the complexity and mechanics that made it great in the first place. No longer can you equip your companions with any item you find, you now have set upgrades. The skills have also been dumbed down. Removing or merging skills like trap-making, poison making, etc.

    The combat is also a mess. A slight speed up would have done Dragon Age well, but they went extremely too far with it. Animations are jerky, gore is over the top, they've basically turned it into a hack and slash RPG game.

    They went away from a lot of what made Dragon Age: Origins great. It's sad that they would insult the people who supported the first game.    … Expand
  8. harmattan
    Mar 10, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age 1, although not the BGII second-coming I was hoping for, offered a close-to-perfect compromise between micro-management of Inventory, Spells and Tactics and hack-and-slash action -- this is what I buy RPGs like this for. Dragon Age 2 takes a different approach: attacking is, for the most part, fire and forget, spell management is limited and inventory is over-simplified.Dragon Age 1, although not the BGII second-coming I was hoping for, offered a close-to-perfect compromise between micro-management of Inventory, Spells and Tactics and hack-and-slash action -- this is what I buy RPGs like this for. Dragon Age 2 takes a different approach: attacking is, for the most part, fire and forget, spell management is limited and inventory is over-simplified. Moreover, the story is convoluded and didn't motivate me to keep playing. Good dialogue and voice acting redeems this game a bit, but nothing can save it from it's pander-to-the-lowest-common-denominator simplicity.

    This game is definitely not worth $60, either on PC or console. Either hold out for the bargain bin or until you can find it used, or just pass (you're not missing much).    … Expand
  9. ZieGentleman
    Mar 10, 2011
    4
    So terribly dissapointed. Don't we have enough watered down mainstream games out there? That might even have been okay if this game was a good mainstream game. But its not. It tries to be a hybrid between an action game like God of war and a classical rpg, and it ends up failing at both. The story is also the worst I have seen from Bioware. The story never picks up a main goal and all youSo terribly dissapointed. Don't we have enough watered down mainstream games out there? That might even have been okay if this game was a good mainstream game. But its not. It tries to be a hybrid between an action game like God of war and a classical rpg, and it ends up failing at both. The story is also the worst I have seen from Bioware. The story never picks up a main goal and all you do ALL game is run around in one city and do quests that all feel like side missions. Suddenly the game ends with a bam and a cliffhanger... Not only that but they reuse every dungeon like 15 times, and there are only like 6-7 small dungeons. Any real rpg elements are taken out, you never even get the opportunity to talk your way out of a fight everyone just charge you. If I want an action rpg I will rather play diablo or titan quest.... this is a bad action rpg and it shames the dragon age franchise. I might be a little harsh, its an okay game, but nothing more... don't expect anything.… Expand
  10. Fef
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    Sorry, not this time BioWare. This game is a crap and all are like "wohoooohoooo best game evah". Seriously this game sucks hard. Im off, goin play some RPGs. REAL ONES.
  11. Valhakar
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    2o2P/AGE player. First off, this game is a narrative, not a an exploration. You know the ending before you get out of the first act. While this may have worked for the movie "The Princess Bride", if fails miserably at providing an immersion laced plot that makes you care about your party members or the story. I found that the game was pretty much a streamlined RPG to showcase the2o2P/AGE player. First off, this game is a narrative, not a an exploration. You know the ending before you get out of the first act. While this may have worked for the movie "The Princess Bride", if fails miserably at providing an immersion laced plot that makes you care about your party members or the story. I found that the game was pretty much a streamlined RPG to showcase the increased animations and spell effects. Site locations were reused over and over so they bumped up the pretty (only a little) and gutted the unique locations and non-plot based interactions. The dialogue is ONLY for plot progression. No more poking around in the heads of your party members. The combat is improved pace wise but much of the strategy of DA:O is lost. It almost feels like they were looking to compete with the now delayed release of Diablo 3. Even if it was not, it feels rushed and shallow.

    DA2 is akin to dating a blonde coed in college. Pretty to look at and fun to play with for a while, then you find it lacking and uninteresting. Add in the immediate DLC offering, you also get a lighter wallet like said coed. I'll stick with the "quirky brunette" that is DA:O. This will be a financial success for EA, so look for more of the same. I will not be ordering the next installment.    … Expand
  12. pizzigol
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. El juego es muy repetitivo las locaciones son siempre las mismas y aburre , la historia es muy buenas y las batallas estan biern realizadas , no se pueden usar armaduras en los personajes jugables salvo en el que iniciamos como nuestro jugador… Expand
  13. Masterbrew
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    I'm a person who very much enjoyed Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect 1 and 2. And RPGs in general.
    I hadn't read any reviews or any info really on Dragon Age 2 before impulse buying it in a store. I never thought it could be bad given it's frikkin' Dragon Age by frikkin' Bioware.
    After having played it for 8-10 hours it became clear to me that I'm not really having fun. I don't care about the    I'm a person who very much enjoyed Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect 1 and 2. And RPGs in general.
    I hadn't read any reviews or any info really on Dragon Age 2 before impulse buying it in a store. I never thought it could be bad given it's frikkin' Dragon Age by frikkin' Bioware.
    After having played it for 8-10 hours it became clear to me that I'm not really having fun. I don't care about the characters, I'm not sure who the bad guys are, the quests just seem unimportant.
    So I played for another 3 hours thinking SOON I will be hooked like I had been so many times before by Biowares stories. But I just got more and more disconnected. Running straight to main plot quests, skipping dialogue - something I usually never do.
    Now I'm done. 10 hours spent on the game and $70 later. The game is going on a used games market website. If I'm lucky I can get 2/3rds of what I paid for it.
    This leaves me worried for my favorite franchise, Mass Effect 3. Lets hope Bioware finds their way again.    … Expand
  14. peroxxi
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    This game in crap. No exploration, tons of bugs, tons of more bugs, awful difficulty calibration, crappy graphics. They made this game in few months just because EA command it!
    It's turned to a great rpg to a casual action rpg.
  15. Qwik
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    Corrupt save files just like the last one. Game over Dragon Age. The game is OK story wise but so many corrupt game saves and just bad everything. It's a big miss on their part. I wish they would have taken 6 more months and actually came out with a quality experience.
  16. Diogenes4evr
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    In a world where there already exists a Mass Effect 1 and 2 why would you buy a third; smaller, shorter, more repetitive and poorer version of it? Dragon Age is a great IP as demonstrated by Origins and DA2 could have been great. Longer and more in-depth quests with greater exploration could have made a mediocre game good; as it is the constant recycling of areas makes the story andIn a world where there already exists a Mass Effect 1 and 2 why would you buy a third; smaller, shorter, more repetitive and poorer version of it? Dragon Age is a great IP as demonstrated by Origins and DA2 could have been great. Longer and more in-depth quests with greater exploration could have made a mediocre game good; as it is the constant recycling of areas makes the story and characters carry the entire weight of this game and it's them that you will play through it for. Combat is repetitive and needs to either be more strategic or require better talent useage (the cool down times are far to long). Still very well written with solid characters and better than the majority of games out there but if you are looking for a BioWare masterpiece or a worthy successor to Origins; this is not it.… Expand
  17. usernam322
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    From DA:O to DA 2 seems like a pretty big fall for Bioware. It almost seems like they didn't even try this time around. One of the biggest grips I have is with where the game takes place.
    DA:O had you traveling all over the place and DA 2 has you running around one city and a few other locations near the city. The main character is supposed to be this great champion but one would wonder    From DA:O to DA 2 seems like a pretty big fall for Bioware. It almost seems like they didn't even try this time around. One of the biggest grips I have is with where the game takes place.
    DA:O had you traveling all over the place and DA 2 has you running around one city and a few other locations near the city. The main character is supposed to be this great champion but one would wonder how he would pull that off running around just one city. Even then the city doesn't seem all that big as dungeons seem to be copy and pasted over and over again. The only real break is the Deep Roads but that doesn't last too long.

    Combat from DA:O to DA 2 is much like from ME 1 to ME 2 where its more of an action RPG than anything else. Ultimately it just seems like they stripped down DA:O for some reason and ended up with this. Not worth your money in a time when games cost $60 new. Wait for it to hit the bargain bin if you really need to play it.    … Expand
  18. freo14
    Mar 13, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game very disappointed .. .. do not even believe that *it* makes developers NWN. Cool RPG turned into a dull meat grinder. I really, really sorry for the fans DE. Although children from 10 to 14, this game is really like .. Although there since age limit 18 ))… Expand
  19. 27raven
    Mar 14, 2011
    4
    Why the lack of interesting and diverse locations? Why one repeating cave and houses over and over again? Why waves of enemies spawning from the ceiling? Why the brutal requirements in DX11 in 5 year old looking game? Why no interesting and surprising puzzles? Why many other things i don't want to even remember? If it wasn't for DA:O and if it wasn't Bioware I would give 7 points but likeWhy the lack of interesting and diverse locations? Why one repeating cave and houses over and over again? Why waves of enemies spawning from the ceiling? Why the brutal requirements in DX11 in 5 year old looking game? Why no interesting and surprising puzzles? Why many other things i don't want to even remember? If it wasn't for DA:O and if it wasn't Bioware I would give 7 points but like this i fell it deserves 5 points max.
    Btw. I didn't like many things in DA:O (skill system, class imbalances) but it was still a pearl in comparison to this game.

    PS: Why so high scores from magazines? Does EA pay that well? It was the same with NFS:Shift and I completely understand people who give 0 points as a defense against so exaggerated ratings.    … Expand
  20. EricNeo
    Mar 15, 2011
    4
    No multiplayer, Huge amount of copy paste, allot less skills, allot less items, enchantment system could have been flushed out and made far better then it is, and worst of all this game will not have a toolset.
  21. lobotomy42
    Mar 15, 2011
    4
    This game has lots of cutscenes. In between the cutscenes, you press the "A" button.

    On the plus side, I do not believe the game has given me any infectious diseases.
  22. Goldnugget
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm very sorry to say that Bioware's latest visit to Thedas represents for me everything that is wrong with the RPG genre of late, if inventory management, character customization/development and epic storytelling aren't for you then stay clear of the genre, there are already genres out there that cater for players who don't want to micromanage, who don't want to get involved in the fine detail. If you're an RPG purist then a small piece of you will die if you play this game.

    Saying that, I don't think the game deserves a reactionary score of 1-2, I also certainly don't think it deserves a score of 9-10 and have to wonder if the people giving these high scores are new to the genre/series or gaming in general. It has some good points and some very very bad points.

    The Good:
    Varrick - Possibly one of the best characters in any RPG of late, I played alongside this character throughout the whole game and he made a significant improvement to the experience!

    Narrative - The perspective is fresh and makes a nice change from the usual 'mysterious prisoner' opening of many other RPGs.

    Combat Looks - The combat looks good I have to admit, even if it feels somewhat empty, the manoeuvres and magic effects are excellent and the Rogue feels like a force to be reckoned with now that the archery skills and damage have been beefed up.

    Qunari     … Expand
  23. Kalaha
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    The immersion and combat of this game is matched by nearly every consol game for the last 10 years. See what i did there? :). The folks at Bioware clearly wanted to make Dragon Age 2 accessible to the greater masses. And i'm pretty sure they succeeded in that. It just didnt do it for me. I bought this game at the EA-online store and even before i had inserted my creditcard information, iThe immersion and combat of this game is matched by nearly every consol game for the last 10 years. See what i did there? :). The folks at Bioware clearly wanted to make Dragon Age 2 accessible to the greater masses. And i'm pretty sure they succeeded in that. It just didnt do it for me. I bought this game at the EA-online store and even before i had inserted my creditcard information, i was spammed with FREE Downloadable Content - order now. order now. Already at this point, i figured something was fishy in the state of bioware. The game is filled with re-used dungeons. Even in the first act, i ran through the same mine 3 times. What the hell is that about? I wont attack the battle-system - i didnt like it, some would. The graphics actually ARE improved from the first game, but you gotta love red - since most of your screen will be filled with it throughout the game. All in all this just seemed like a rushed game. 4/10… Expand
  24. Rizla
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    It's sad that this game has turned out how it has. Where i would play DA:O hours on end cause it immersed me into a beautiful world with diversity and a compelling story, i have to take a break from DA II every half hour because of the fatigue the game gives me, it's the same thing over and over, covered in bland and repeating surroundings and a general 'meh' feeling toward anythingIt's sad that this game has turned out how it has. Where i would play DA:O hours on end cause it immersed me into a beautiful world with diversity and a compelling story, i have to take a break from DA II every half hour because of the fatigue the game gives me, it's the same thing over and over, covered in bland and repeating surroundings and a general 'meh' feeling toward anything character or story wise.

    I miss bird eye view alot when positioning party members, which is a shame since you haveto reposition alot due to enemies spawning out of nowhere. Simplified loot system is so uninteresting and easy to get around with that it's an annoyance to be bothering with.

    Managing companions has been reduced to giving them jewelry. I never liked Massive effect to start with and the introduction of that wheel selection thing is just horrid to me.

    In the end i felt like all options that would activate some braincells have been reduced to such simple tasks that i can't find it more challenging than setting one foot in front of another. It's so straightforward and linear :-S

    The character selection system is restrictive and doesn't offer in any way what DA:O did, not at all. I don't feel like i'm playing a unique character at all in this game.

    This game might of been received better if it hadn't been named the sequel to DA:O. But even if you take the first game out of the picture it still doesn't add up to a very good game in it's genre. I'd say i would rate it a 6 without ever playing DA:O. It's just not good. :(    … Expand
  25. IslandMonkee
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    This over simplified pile of crap would not even bare the name Bioware a couple of years ago. I am not going to go in depth about the hack and slash gameplay or the repetitive use of the same environments over and over again. Just read the negative reviews from others, you will get the picture.
  26. Mythe87
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    After enjoying Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, I've been waiting for Dragon Age II with much excitement. I grabbed my hands on a copy of DA2 on release date, went home, unwrapped the foil from the box and put the disc in my PS3. After setting up the options to my personal liking I was ready to start the journey. Let's start playing.

    I'm writing this review while I am 18 hours in to    After enjoying Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, I've been waiting for Dragon Age II with much excitement. I grabbed my hands on a copy of DA2 on release date, went home, unwrapped the foil from the box and put the disc in my PS3. After setting up the options to my personal liking I was ready to start the journey. Let's start playing.

    I'm writing this review while I am 18 hours in to the game, somewhere in Act II I presume. The reason I play RPGs are to feel immersion, connected to the main character and it's companion, a interesting story, to explore the world and to find epic loot. Dragon Age 2 is lacking major in every department. Let me tell you why.

    The characters feel too generic, except for Varric and Anders. Their personalities are boring, their stories are boring and the fact that BioWare doesn't give you an opportunity to feel connected with them makes it even worse.

    The story is telling the tale of how you become the champion, but to be honest I don't see it going anywhere. You do some side quests to make money, go on an expedition and after that do some more side quests. In my 18 hours of play I still don't have the feeling I am doing something important or amazing. To end with a positive note on this subject I do like the way they are presenting the story.

    Exploring the word in DA2 is just drama. 90% of the game is taking place in a not so appealing city to say the least. So there's not a lot to explore, but hey we still have dungeons, right? You can scrap that from your list. There are just a few layouts and they are, sadly, reused for every dungeon. So there goes all your of exploring the world. While killing some mobs, you mostly find some loot. It might contain something epic, but sadly you can't wear it because it's another class. So you'd say let's equip one of my companions with it. But some genius at BioWare decided no one cares about equipping their party members, instead we let the player buy upgrades of armor for their companions. Thanks for not taking the weapon and accessory slots away. To end on a positive note the improved combat system is something I enjoy. It's a lot more action based and a lot smoother. From time to time you just don't want to pause the game to play it like a strategy game, but just like a hack 'n slash game.

    All of the things really break the immersion for me. I want to equip my characters, I want to have cool traveling bunch, I want to explore the world and I want to feel that I am in something big. Sadly DA2 doesn't do any of that.    … Expand
  27. Stocky
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    The game for me has had it's ups and downs. But the lack of depth with characters, rehashed environments and the extremely shallow game play personally proved too much to bear. What is even more annoying from a consumer point of view is the DLC on day one. Why provide extra content from the release date especially after consumers are paying £30-40+ for such a lackluster title?
  28. Nightfish
    Mar 17, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age 2 is the "Phantom Menace" to Dragon Age: Origin's "A New Hope". Thank you George for making this comparison possible and instantly recognisable by nerds everywhere. In many ways, I wouldn't need to say anything more than that, but I will anyway: When writing a review of Dragon Age 2, you probably have to say a few words about where you are coming from first. Are you theDragon Age 2 is the "Phantom Menace" to Dragon Age: Origin's "A New Hope". Thank you George for making this comparison possible and instantly recognisable by nerds everywhere. In many ways, I wouldn't need to say anything more than that, but I will anyway: When writing a review of Dragon Age 2, you probably have to say a few words about where you are coming from first. Are you the wide-eyed fanboy or the disgruntled, estranged hater formerly known as a "true" fan? Then you claim to be neither, but the one true voice of reason who's got a neutral view on this issue. Personally, I have bought and played repeatedly pretty much everything Bioware published since Shattered Steel and I've enjoyed each game on his own merits. I loved Planescape Tormet, Baldur's Gate 2 just as much as Jade Empire, even though that game is radically different in terms of combat. I'm saying that to illustrate that I am very well capable of enjoying a game that does not have the traditional isometric view of tactical combat.

    Dragon Age 2 however, I cannot get into no matter how much I want to like it. This game is a train wreck of Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age and not in a good way. Let's take a look at some of the "bad" things. First of all: Combat. I cannot, for the life of me, see how anyone could view the new system as an improvement. They tried to make combat incredibly fast paced and action packed, but somehow this does not play out the way it's intended, at least not for me. Seeing a guy in full platemail armed with a huge two-handed weapon move faster than Neo in the Matrix doesn't just break immersion for me, it shatters it beyond all hopes of repair. Most enemies die in one hit now and they do so in a spectacularily silly and over the top gory way. There's more blood in here than in the silliest splatter movie I ever saw. There's a fine line between "adult" and "graphic violence" and enemies EXPLODING into 20 gallons of blood and shishkebab upon being stabbed in the chest once. To compensate for all the insta-kills, enemies now spawn in waves by the dozens. This robs the individual enemy of any significance. How can I be intimidated by a blood mage or a horrible demon if there's 20 of each under every other rock? Beats me. The sadest thing about DA2 is that it actually fails where bioware usually excells. The story and dialogue. Take the human noble origin story in Dragon Age Origins, for example. Before everyone dies a gruesome death you spend some time to get to know them. Thus, when they do die, their death has some impact on you. In DA2, we skip the first part in favor of turning the gruesomeness of the death up to 11. The thing is, if some random red shirt dies twice as horribly, I don't care twice as much. The "main story" if it can so be called, is anything but an improvement over the original as well. Granted, you are not saving the world, which in theory can make for an interesting story as well, but many people take this fact alone to mean the story is brilliant. Unfortunately, that is not quite true. The writing is incredibly ham-fisted at times. I cannot count how often the game prevents you from using obvious solutions to problems simply because the plot requires that this problem cannot be solved in a simple manner. This adds to the "rushed" vibe the game gives off in general. There's barely any "fluff" anymore. You cannot talk to your companions at will anymore, for example. Some of the events of DA:O are imported and the game shoe-horns them into DA2, but if you spend even 2 seconds thinking about "Why was Alistair here just now?" you'll notice that he had no significance to the plot, provided no insight whatsoever and was there simply as a little bit of fan-service. Oh yea, and the RPG part got dumbed down some more, but that was to be expected I guess and is barely worth mentioning in light of all the other shortcommings the game has. Still, rating the game a 0/10 as many people do is just as silly as rating it 10/10. There is good to be found if you can look past your expectations for a bit. Some of the quests are indeed well written and fun. The voice actors did a really good job, almost without exception. Flemeth's new look is a vast improvement over her old one, too bad she is in the game for about 5 minutes, tops. It's almost like she notice "Oh snap, this is gonna hurt!" and flapped out of the game on her dragon wings. I cannot say I blame her. In conclusion, Bioware lost a lot of credibilty with me for this game. No longer will I blindly buy whatever they release. Once burned, twice shy. The shady things they did here on metacritic are not helping that image. I hope they learn a lesson from this disaster and can recover and return to what made them successful in the first place instead of succumbing to EA's corruption for good.    … Expand
  29. Skyduke
    Mar 18, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First of all: if you thought this game was going to be a successor to Dragon Age, my advice to you is: don't buy it. You will be sorely disappointed. It has nothing of the depth and immersion of the first game; the dialogue is trite, and there is little to no party interaction (you can't even chat to your companions at a camp, for crying out loud...).
    The quests are very much disconnected; there is no central theme to it, like there was in the first game. There is no overarching goal. You are basically just doing random, WoW-like quests. The "main" quests make little or no sense, and I'm honestly not sure your choices matter that much, except for one or two major exceptions. To give you an idea: I sided with the mages: Orsino turning to blood magic when we had been killing all the templars and had been supporting him all the way made no sense at all.
    Now, I'll just tell you what I think the good and bad points are:
    Positive: Faster, more reactive fights (with the downside that they are now a little too fast; feels a lot like button mashing to me, and waiting for your cooldowns...). Your choices do have real consequences on the plot/setting/companions.
    That's it.
    Negative: Watered down story, which at times will make no sense at all. Feeling of disconnection and "just wandering around".
    Very little meaningful party interaction.
    Quite a few bugs left.
    Ending was very unsatisfying: no summary of what happens to the participants depending on what you did during the game.
    No truly horrific elements, like the Deep Roads in the first one.
    Trite, often juvenile, canned dialogue. "Steer my boat" Hurhurhur!!!
    Graphics are actually worse than the first (all things equal).
    Canned, cut-and-paste repetitive dungeons with no character.

    All in all, I am really disappointed. I expected much better.    … Expand
  30. Landor
    Mar 19, 2011
    4
    Besides the discussion of to much action, gore, comic like design and the Hack ´n Slay fights which is a question of taste for sure. You can see, that DA2 had not enough time.The hardcore recycling of enemies and levels ist just bold. Dialogues are simple, predictable and don´t go into depth. And the hero Hawk never shows any kind of emotions. I love Bioware gamesBesides the discussion of to much action, gore, comic like design and the Hack ´n Slay fights which is a question of taste for sure. You can see, that DA2 had not enough time.The hardcore recycling of enemies and levels ist just bold. Dialogues are simple, predictable and don´t go into depth. And the hero Hawk never shows any kind of emotions. I love Bioware games for the epic story lines and great emotions. I even loved Mass Effect 2, so its quite clear that I´m not that kind of hardcore traditionalist, but DA2 has nothing to do with RPG any more. Its RPG light or RPG fast food. Easy to consume. Easy to forget. I miss the spark, which brings me to play this game again and again. I finished the game one time now and I not going to play it again. So my recommendation: DON´T GIVE MORE THAN 10 BUGS. If this is the future of Bioware´s understanding of RPG, I will never buy a game of this company again. EA and Bioware are going in the wrong direction .… Expand
  31. necro128
    Mar 19, 2011
    4
    simple.. repetitive and predictable. good bye dragon age.....
    now you have a action game masked as rpg. run around the same caves and "dungeons" one time and other let you with the feeling of be playing a bad chinese MMO made to extract you money with micropayments. and probably thats what EA want with the forthcoming dlc,s.
  32. UserJuicer
    Mar 20, 2011
    4
    Story is interesting, voice work is great.
    Most quests involve running through sewers, caves or country side - all of which you have seen 100 times before.
    During combat enemies come in waves. Killing 10 will almost always guarantee that 10 or 20 more will follow. The combination of the repeated environments and awful, grating combat proves the game didn't receive enough development time    Story is interesting, voice work is great.
    Most quests involve running through sewers, caves or country side - all of which you have seen 100 times before.
    During combat enemies come in waves. Killing 10 will almost always guarantee that 10 or 20 more will follow.
    The combination of the repeated environments and awful, grating combat proves the game didn't receive enough development time and has been padded beyond belief.
    Disappointing.    … Expand
  33. Andyuk101
    Mar 21, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age 2 has been awaited ever since its announcement, and given Bioware's Reputation, it can be forgiven if people where mouth watering over the release of this game.

    Dragon Age Origins / Awakening rearly set the benchmark for fantasy world RPG'S, more in depth and detialed than any other fantasy type RPG game before it. Emulating the success of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights    Dragon Age 2 has been awaited ever since its announcement, and given Bioware's Reputation, it can be forgiven if people where mouth watering over the release of this game.

    Dragon Age Origins / Awakening rearly set the benchmark for fantasy world RPG'S, more in depth and detialed than any other fantasy type RPG game before it. Emulating the success of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Mass effect. all truely great rpgs and excellent ways to spend your free time playing. However after playing the game for 12 hours or so, i started to notice alot of things that seemed , to be the same, I ignored these at first, these being the same map layouts of caves, alleys, coasts etc constantly visited but with different enterances and exits. Then i started to noitce how bland the backgrounds were, how average the graphics felt, and the sense of epicness seemed to be vanishing the further i progressed into the game. Then i started to notice the quests started becoming quite tedious, go here kill something, go here talk to this person and kill something, go here get ambushed by more mobs etc, felt very disjointed. There rearlly isnt any choice, just the illusion of choice, one of the most frustrating things for me is the lack of gear, and gear / weapons you can equip yourself and your allies with almost everything you pick up being vendor trash and mostly useless. You cannot spec any ally , they all have set roles, with only 1 choice of tank (really annoying), one automatic choice of healer (unless you are a mage) and a real lack of companion and character development that was so enjoyable in the first DA:O / DA:A. The voice acting in my opnion is good, but some of it felt "static", Varric and Isabella are excellent, and Hawkes Male voice is okay, but the Female voice of Hawke to me sounds alot better. You are able to customise Hawkes appearence which is great, because i felt that the default male hawk looked like something of of thunderbirds with his rediculiously looking square face and jaw. If you think Dragon age 2 would be an excellent straight sequeal to DA:O , then just like me you will be terribly disapointed.

    There are some good additions to the game however, the simplifed gear / options menu is nice and feels like the same system they used in mass effect 2, however i feel its to simple for people like myself who are RPG veterans and i feel its a little insulting. There should be an option to use the default system from DA:O or choose the "New and improved" version from DA 2.

    Combat has been completely toned down, there is almost no tactics involed at all, like some people say, its all AOE spam / Keep tank on main threat mob, AOE SPAM / Heal, AOE SPAM, Kill main tank mob, repeat for almost every single fight. The freedom of combat is much better than DA:O however but its so simple my 8 year old son could win every fight without evening trying.

    Im going to finish this review buy breaking it down into "PROS" and CONS", so its easier to make my points.

    PROS:

    - Good Story - Hawke is an excellent addtion to the DA Universe.
    - Simplified Combat easy to pick up and play for new RPG players.
    - Credible Voice Acting.
    - Lots of side quests to keep you enterianed along side the main storyline.
    - The Graphics are good once you have downloaded the textures pack.
    - The Improved crafting system in favor of the tedious one from the first game.
    - 25+ Hours If you do every single side quest and explore everywhere in the game.

    CONS:

    - Combat is too easy, its no challenge to good RPG gamers.
    - The simple gear interace is frustratingly hard to read and compare item to item.
    - The same areas re-used over and over again, simply cut and pasted with different enterances, very boring and bland to play threw.
    - There is no epic feel to the game, the story pans out and leaves you hanging, you feel as if you have only played half a game.
    - The lack of customise options for your crew is rearlly frustrating.
    - Hardly any major boss fights.
    - Once you have played it twice with a male and female hawk, it will gather dust until decent DLC comes out for it.
    - Bioware have sold an unfinshed game, it costs £34.99 at least and you have to pay a further £14.99 or so to get the DLC available straight away, IT should be included in the game!.
    - Leaves you hanging and wanting more, and leaves you feeling very dissapointed.

    Theres an old saying "If its not broke dont fix it", so then why did bioware ruin such a promising game with a seemingly rushed production.    … Expand
  34. Greggor
    Mar 20, 2011
    4
    The only redeeming quality of this game is its combat system, but even that system is flawed. Enemies tend to come at you in waves. So be aware that any time you think you're picking a fight with three bandits, their entire bandit army is waiting around the corner to punch you in the sack. This wouldn't be so bad except for the implications it has for aggro control. New enemies can't beThe only redeeming quality of this game is its combat system, but even that system is flawed. Enemies tend to come at you in waves. So be aware that any time you think you're picking a fight with three bandits, their entire bandit army is waiting around the corner to punch you in the sack. This wouldn't be so bad except for the implications it has for aggro control. New enemies can't be aggroed until they spawn, so they are gong to immediately jump on your mage/healer/rogue/weakling and ignore your fighter until you scramble to save the lives of your squishy party members.
    That said, the combat is a bit more fun and manageable than its counterpart in DA:O.

    But the rest of the game has just gone downhill. Bioware really disappointed me with this title. The story is watered down and hard to accept. The breadth of its predecessor was sacrificed for "accessibility" to a wider audience. In fact, the whole game takes place in one (small) town. But besides that, other features I dislike are: Your companions don't get new armor, period. You can purchase "upgrades", but you can't put any loot on them. You don't get to choose a race anymore: you're human, and that's all there is to it. The game reuses the same areas for quest after quest after quest. Most of the loot you find (50-75%) is junk. Literally, it's junk. It goes in the junk tab of your inventory. And its only purpose is to be sold for a pittance to merchants. Really, Bioware? You couldn't just give us more cash in treasure chests? You had to add "broken chair" or "mangled darkspawn dagger" into the mix? Are you kidding? This whole game was a massive disappointment. I will never pre-order another Bioware or EA title again. No, you can earn your money from now on. You don't get to get away with crap like this anymore.    … Expand
  35. GentlemanMoogle
    Mar 21, 2011
    4
    I wanted to like this game. I really did. It was one of only two games I've ever pre-ordered in my life. I've been playing Bioware games since the original Baldur's Gate, and I've loved them all almost without reservation. And then there's DA2. I'm a gamer who values a coherent narrative, a sense of immersion in a game, and -- if nothing else -- at least the illusion that the choices II wanted to like this game. I really did. It was one of only two games I've ever pre-ordered in my life. I've been playing Bioware games since the original Baldur's Gate, and I've loved them all almost without reservation. And then there's DA2. I'm a gamer who values a coherent narrative, a sense of immersion in a game, and -- if nothing else -- at least the illusion that the choices I make in a game will matter in some way. Unfortunately, DA2 falls short on all three areas. I'll admit, I enjoyed the combat until about half-way through the second act, then it just got repetitive and bland. I didn't mind the lack of companion customization, and I could even forgive the lack of item descriptions. But this is a game that seems to go out of its way to destroy any immersive qualities it may have had. Kirkwall never changes, regardless of your decisions and in spite of the fact that the game supposedly takes place over a ten-year span. Nothing is ever different. If you visit a marketplace in act 1, it will look exactly the same TEN YEARS LATER in act 3. I can forgive a lot, but when Fenris still has the battered corpses of the enemies I killed in his mansion after ten years? Yes, it's a little thing, but the little things matter. Oh, and they use the same four or five maps for every single quest line in the game. Given that most people will put thirty to forty hours of gameplay into this thing, you can bet that you're going to be tired of seeing the same damn map and killing the same damn enemies on that map after the twentieth time you visit. But for me, the biggest kick in the shorts was the overall narrative. Or rather, the fact that there wasn't one. There is no overarching story to this game. Instead, you're given three 'mini-stories' separated by the passage of time. I could forgive this, if Bioware had put in some decent plot and storytelling into these three acts. Unfortunately, they didn't. The totality of Act One's plotline can be summed up as follows: "You need money to get to Act Two." That's right, the entire first third of the game is a glorified toll gate. Admittedly, Act Two is far better, and actually held my interest all the way through to the fantastic end-of-act finale, but then it devolved into a massive Charlie Foxtrot (look it up) in Act 3, with nonsensical revelations flying fast and loose from every corner. And, naturally, Act 3 is where the bulk of the games bugs show up, causing some quests to fry out and become un-completable, and causing other quests and cutscenes to start out-of-order in a manner that yanks me right out of any immersion I might have attained. By the half-way marker in Act Three, I realized that I just didn't care a whit about anything. Thanks to the lack of any extended narrative, I had no reason to care about Kirkwall and its citizens (which wasn't helped by the fact that the entire city seems to live in a static bubble of time where nothing ever changes), and I didn't even care about my companions all that much, despite each of them being fairly well-realized in their own ways. I suppose one could argue that the main narrative was supposed to be Hawke-centered, but I couldn't muster up a shred of care even for my character, because he never felt like a protagonist. All throughout the game, I felt like little more than a glorified errand boy, a bystander relegated to the sidelines while I watch the game's story unfold without my help or the need for my direction. Oh yes, you do rise to power over the years, but it's an empty power, a power forced on you by the game's narratives rather than by your own conscious decision to pick it up. I felt as though every choice I made in this game was superfluous, that no matter what I did, everything would work out exactly the same. This game was supposed to be the story of a man struggling to power in a new and dangerous city. I honestly felt like I was an NPC in what was supposed to be a me-centered storyline. There were some things I loved about DA2. The characters were fun to play around with, and the dialog was top-notch throughout the game. My favorite parts in the entire production were the banters between your party members. But ultimately, they are fluffy sweet icing on a cake made of asphalt and failure. The lack of immersion, the lack of a coherent narrative, the endlessly-repeating levels, and the nagging sense that nothing you do really matters in the grand scheme of things make this one of the most disappointing Bioware entries I've ever had the misfortune to play.… Expand
  36. Vaeleth
    Mar 22, 2011
    4
    I could write an essay on this game. I'll keep it short....

    Good: *Classes and skills have much more synergy. *Companion dialog remains witty and amusing. *Companion quests are fun. *Initial story is OK *Crafting is streamlined. - Some don't like this change, it made the game less tedious. The BAD: *The game and environments are hollow. Kirkwall is nice, but it is a ghost town. All    I could write an essay on this game. I'll keep it short....

    Good:
    *Classes and skills have much more synergy.
    *Companion dialog remains witty and amusing.
    *Companion quests are fun.
    *Initial story is OK
    *Crafting is streamlined. - Some don't like this change, it made the game less tedious.

    The BAD:
    *The game and environments are hollow. Kirkwall is nice, but it is a ghost town. All dialog is scripted.
    *Copy and pasted environments are a kick in the balls.
    *Imported saves from DA:O hold no impact.
    *Dialog wheel is misleading.
    *Most boss fights are just tedious attrition kites.
    *Linear environments. You literally cannot explore at all. There are no hidden goodies to be found.
    *Para dropping enemies. All fights come in waves of enemies that appear out of nowhere.
    *Linear story. Your actions have zero impact on the MAIN story.
    *You cannot interact with companions past the rare and quick scripted events.
    *Character cameos from DA:O are forced and hold no meaning.
    *Day 1 DLC that tries to milk more money out of you. Another kick in the balls.
    *The game falls flat in the end. The outcome is the same, regardless of everything you've done.
    *Most equipment is junk, most loot is junk. - Literally. You just killed a boss? He drops... Junk and one good item. -If you are lucky.
    *Bugged quests.
    *Side quests are hollow and pointless. You loot an item and magically know to give it to x or y stranger for gold. ZERO dialog.
    *Enemies just explode, not finishers are satisfying animations.    … Expand
  37. konda210
    Mar 23, 2011
    4
    Same review I've posted in other forums...One word. Unfinishable. This was like watching a long bad direct-to-video fantasy. Wow. I'm really shocked at how bad the storytelling was here. Just so unlike Bioware to utterly fail at the story. Possibly it was the production timeline? I can excuse the repetitive maps, the hack-and-slash, the idiotic AI, the auto-spawn enemies that always seemSame review I've posted in other forums...One word. Unfinishable. This was like watching a long bad direct-to-video fantasy. Wow. I'm really shocked at how bad the storytelling was here. Just so unlike Bioware to utterly fail at the story. Possibly it was the production timeline? I can excuse the repetitive maps, the hack-and-slash, the idiotic AI, the auto-spawn enemies that always seem to materialize out of closed spaces, even the giant spiders who web down from a clear blue sky. Over-powered rouges and buggy system that clearly handicaps damage when there are more enemies than less, no problem. I can even excuse the locked companion armor, nameless equipment and the disjointed, often-times mindless quests, but never, ever have I bought a Bioware game and was so frustrated where I just preferred not to finish. I'm a hardcore RPG fan and not only is this worse than Dragon Age Origins, it's more like some strange alternate world spin-off. It doesn't even feel like Dragonage. I got to the final part of the end of the final act and was so disgusted with the story, I turned my Xbox off. It's been a long, long time since I've done that.

    Look for copies to show up on the pre-owned shelves soon. Remember it's a very LONG game and Bioware earned credibility with DA:O that despite bad experiences people are still trying to give it a chance. I think some are coming to the conclusion that I've arrived at. I'm done. Not even a DLC can save this .......... abomination. LOL.    … Expand
  38. DenofLionsx
    Mar 25, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. (TL;DR at bottom)

    I give this game a 4 only because if you ignore the fact that this was suppose to be a sequel to Origins/Awakening it can be sort of fun. This game took the "Spiritual Successor" to the Baldur's Gate Series, killed it, mutilated its corpse, burned it, and pissed on its ashes. From characters that have the depth of a pot hole to the entire campaign being one giant linear repeat of the same 4 rooms. Everything has been dumbed down to the point where if you want a classic tank/healer/dps style part you're character locked into almost a singular party setup due to only ONE CHARACTER IN THE GAME HAVING THE ABILITY TO USE A SHIELD, and one other character being the only one who can AoE heal and ressurect. Spoilers below on characters:

    Your initial tank in the game, Aveline, is probably the most annoying character in the Dragon Age universe (Yes, even Anders makes an appearance and redeems his stupidity from Awakening). Mrs. Goody two-shoes cry about my dead husband. She is the anti-Morigan. Characters that lean entirely to one side with uncompromising ethics are boring.

    Isabela is a character who seems to have been written by the same brilliant 13 year old boys who wrote Lara Croft. Her only redeeming factor, like Lara, is that her **** are the size of watermelons... wait, how does this redeem anything? Anders, along with Justice, is, imo, the best character in this game. He actually has an interesting story since Awakening and isn't a whiny little girl anymore. Sadly he does not make up for the rest of this game's failings.

    Combat:

    The combat system has been dumbed down to the point of, to be blunt, console standards. Once you get a mage with proper end of tree spells the game becomes "Gravity well, AoE the **** out of everything, loot" which I guess is right on target for the kind of audience this game is shooting for. Dialog and Choices:

    Your choices honestly don't mean dick in this game other than party friendship. Kill the templar? What consequences does this action hold? Oh, nothing, -20 Aveline rep and +20 Anders. The Mass Effect style wheel dialog options are rather bad, though I do enjoy my character being voiced this time around. You see the text on the wheel but what comes out of Hawke's mouth isn't even close to the option you chose half the time. Final Thoughts (TL;DR):

    I have no idea who at Bioware thought locking characters to a specific role was a good idea. One of my favorite aspects on DA1 was changing a characters role to better fit the party I wanted to run. The characters lack depth and the entire story is a linear romp with no real choices of consequence. The entire game feels like it was designed to try and lure in Call of Duty fans to make more money. EA boosting the Metascore by having employees post as critics just shows they screwed up and they know it.    … Expand
  39. CitizenCook
    Mar 26, 2011
    4
    A very disappoint sequel.
    The original was disappointing in itself, but this game manages to undermine that effort in almost every way. The combat mechanic has been improved, but the story is boring, and play areas are extremely uninteresting and repetitive. A rushed sequel, one to avoid.
  40. ahpucha
    Mar 28, 2011
    4
    Giving this a 4 (should be a 6) to counteract all the lies and "user" reviews written by people associated with the company and the outright lies fed to us by the game review industry (they're obviously getting something for giving the game such inflated scores). Hard to suspend disbelief in regards to the story line, tedious gameplay, lazy environment creation, linear gameplay, nearlyGiving this a 4 (should be a 6) to counteract all the lies and "user" reviews written by people associated with the company and the outright lies fed to us by the game review industry (they're obviously getting something for giving the game such inflated scores). Hard to suspend disbelief in regards to the story line, tedious gameplay, lazy environment creation, linear gameplay, nearly every quest havingg nothing to do with the story and the inability to make the player care about the characters is enough to stay away. If we support this type of mediocre game creation that is all we are going to get.… Expand
  41. LadyDumrotten
    Mar 29, 2011
    4
    I'm really digusted with how the critics have managed to forgive this game's glaring flaws. Not that there aren't things about the game that I love. It has excellent characters and an addictive, refined battle system... It's just a shame that the ridiculous amount of recycled content really kills it for me. There aren't even that many explorable areas in the game, and those that areI'm really digusted with how the critics have managed to forgive this game's glaring flaws. Not that there aren't things about the game that I love. It has excellent characters and an addictive, refined battle system... It's just a shame that the ridiculous amount of recycled content really kills it for me. There aren't even that many explorable areas in the game, and those that are there are all narrow corridors that are re-used over and over for the entire game. Also, the storyline apparently spans nearly a decade, except the only way you would know that are the cut-scenes at the end of each act (of which there are three) telling you a number of years have passed... except, NOTHING, literally NOTHING changes over the years. At the beginning of Act 3 your party starts off standing in the exact spot where you finished Act 2 as if no time had passed at all. Laughable. This game could have been a classic had only more time been put into development. As it is, it's only recommendable if you think you can overlook these huge flaws and enjoy the strong combat and fairly interesting cast.… Expand
  42. wastelander75
    Mar 30, 2011
    4
    Without a doubt, a middling, muddling attempt to cater to the hack and slash / Mass Effect fans while TRYING to lightly cater to the fans that made Dragon Age Origins a hit. In the end it succeeds at doing neither. From reusing maps that are surprisingly similar in design from random quest #33 to random quest #85 (which was surprisingly similar in design to the map used in random questWithout a doubt, a middling, muddling attempt to cater to the hack and slash / Mass Effect fans while TRYING to lightly cater to the fans that made Dragon Age Origins a hit. In the end it succeeds at doing neither. From reusing maps that are surprisingly similar in design from random quest #33 to random quest #85 (which was surprisingly similar in design to the map used in random quest #10), to the tactic-less approach to combat. Companions who were, for the most part, never really a "stand out" kind of lot. No Urdnot Wrex, no Tali vas, no HK-47. They're OK, but they are no Wrex. I also felt no real sense of purpose, no feeling that what I was doing was shaping or changing the future of Kirkwall, other than having Hawke move from rags to riches. Every event I played, seemed lifeless and self contained in their Acts, with no real significance or impact on the overall. My only one true praise is that it at least looks better than the drab lifeless world experienced in the first (and still superior) game.… Expand
  43. n00bdream
    Mar 31, 2011
    4
    Very disappointing. The game lacks almost everything that made the first one so enjoyable. The characters are uninspiring, the story is almost non-existing and the interactions with your teammates are boring. The gameplay works, but everything else is inferior to the first game.
  44. Saul
    Mar 31, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age Origins was an excellent game.

    Dragon Age 2 is a big disappointment for me. Specially because there's no epic feeling at all. Why I have to spend 90% of the game going around Kirkwall doing small "kill this guy", "bring this stuff" missions? I'd like to battle hordes of enemies, be part of an epic story, command an army, lead a desperate mission or kill the king.. I don't    Dragon Age Origins was an excellent game.

    Dragon Age 2 is a big disappointment for me.

    Specially because there's no epic feeling at all.

    Why I have to spend 90% of the game going around Kirkwall doing small "kill this guy", "bring this stuff" missions?

    I'd like to battle hordes of enemies, be part of an epic story, command an army, lead a desperate mission or kill the king.. I don't know, something EPIC, difficult, impossible for no one but my character and his foes.

    But what I got in exchange is... hey, you can be a small smuggler/assassin.. and spend hours and hours of gameplay just moving around this city, doing "no one cares about it" missions.

    **** I want to be a hero! That's why I buy a game with "DRAGON" in its cover!    … Expand
  45. AlekKolchak
    Apr 3, 2011
    4
    Honestly, Bioware's first bad game and a poor successor to a great first game. All strategy has been taken out of combat, making it a "point and click" game until all waves of enemies are destroyed. The role playing aspect has been cut, leaving the player with only the ability to select one of three dialogue choices: "peaceful, humorous, aggressive." This has no affect on how the gameHonestly, Bioware's first bad game and a poor successor to a great first game. All strategy has been taken out of combat, making it a "point and click" game until all waves of enemies are destroyed. The role playing aspect has been cut, leaving the player with only the ability to select one of three dialogue choices: "peaceful, humorous, aggressive." This has no affect on how the game plays out. Environments are rarely as detailed as the first game and are recycled to an amazing degree. Most of the game play is uninspired delivery quests. Loot is random and you cannot equip armor on the other team characters. The main story feels more like an expansion pack. The pros? Good graphics and excellent voice work. Hopefully player created mods will eventually add the content that the developers did not. Still, it is sad to think that EA has purchased and eliminated another creative game company.… Expand
  46. junglepat
    Apr 3, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been a follower of BioWare's games since the release of the Baldur's Gate series - they generally put out high quality products. Dragon Age 2 is not of the same caliber as previous games, but it is moderately entertaining. They have made some changes to improve the overall game play experience - some are successful, while others are not.

    PROS:
    - Combat system feels more responsive and visceral. While the option to manage companions and their tactics remains, you can definitely get right into some button mashing fun without every combat being an agonizing tactical slog or ending in a funeral pyre for you and your friends.

    - I enjoyed the way the the story unfolded as a combination of cut-scene dialogue and direct player involvement. The cut-scenes between Varric and Cassandra are excellent and work to unfold your time in Kirkwall.

    -Great character companions, with involving stories, certainly made the game interesting. They were well voice-acted and written. More dialogues would have been even better.

    CONS:
    -Some quest bugs had me running around scratching my head as to what I was doing wrong - all of which can be fixed with a patch. Although I did find it funny when my character assumed the daggers ready stance for 1/3 of the game while moving and talking to people - she looked like a car crash victim, hobbling along. Seriously, buggy games are not cool.

    - Player options are severely limited. After the tour de force that was Dragon Age:Origins, with multiple races and origin stories, your time as a human male/female seems downright pitiful. Not the usual buffet of choice presented in BioWare's games. It is not inconceivable that there may have been other survivours from Lothering, or characters that had been related to the Battle at Ostagar in a different way. -Player choices don't have the same impact that they have in Dragon Age: Origins. Whether you are an apostate or a supporter of the Templars does not make a difference to the game ending. You fight the same boss and the game ends exactly the same way - as a cheap cliffhanger. Choices made during the game have no actual impact on on how the story unfolds. As an example, I supported the mages and Templars during different play throughs and got the same result. I felt like decisions made during the game were pointless. -The story is somewhat limited. In other games like ME, ME2 and DA:O there were extensive plot lines and character development. In comparison, DA 2 felt short and contrived. It did not have the same epic feel as these other games. Most of the time you are completing mundane fetch/carry/find quests. The plot which is suppose to be the back bone of this story is sometimes non-existent and when it does rear its head you are left wondering how things got to this point. The idea of a rags to riches story is great in theory, but falls short in this game. On my first play through I stumbled on the end game - very annoying since I had unfinished quests. -Environments and NPC's - I don't know if BioWare was under pressure to save money or if they only had one guy working on these but, the places you go and the people you see are severely limited. Just because you make me run through a place backwards doesn't mean I don't realize that it is the exact same environment. At one point, when an NPC said that I could meet him at his base on the Wounded Coast, I felt like asking if everyone in Kirkwall was time-sharing this place, because three other NPC's were using it as their base as well. No effort was made to change any of the layout's or anything. I understand that the story takes place in one city - it's good to be familiar with a place that you are living in for an extended period of time, but creating one cave and two outdoor sets really seems like someone got lazy. It really makes the game hard to replay when you know you will be trudging through the same 10 rooms over and over again. Character models are also limited - the mobs that you meet in the streets wear the same outfits. At one point I was like "Hey! Didn't I kill you guys in the other alley over there... at least 30 times!?" -A lack of really memorable foes. Besides the Arishok and the High Dragon (which really came out of nowhere the first time I fought it) the villains you meet really are not that memorable. Meredith seems like a foe of convenience rather than, someone you have been building to face - like the Archdemon or Saren/Reaper.

    While not un-fun, this game is certainly a shadow of its predecessor. It lacked the momentous choices of DA:O and the involved story that went along with that. It worries me that this may be a trend that BioWare's games are going to follow. Perhaps BioWare will take player concerns into account when releasing DLC and DA 3. I certainly hope that the issues with this game are not the result of being tied to EA - generally more concerned with profit than quality.    … Expand
  47. CTR8008
    Apr 7, 2011
    4
    DA2 was a very basic game to me. Quest seem more like chores and the story seems flat. I did like the combat system though it put you more into the action in every battle. I'm very suprised at Bioware for this one they usually never put out average games like this.
  48. Makaveli
    Apr 14, 2011
    4
    Is this an action game or an RPG? Perhaps a ARPG? I played the first dragon age and I give that one a 7 out of 10, DA 2 gets a 4 and that is being genourous. I have never seen such a game, where they copy and paste areas. I know a lot of games do this because the creators are lazy, but that is all this game is. Take out all the copy and pasted elements in this game and what do you have?Is this an action game or an RPG? Perhaps a ARPG? I played the first dragon age and I give that one a 7 out of 10, DA 2 gets a 4 and that is being genourous. I have never seen such a game, where they copy and paste areas. I know a lot of games do this because the creators are lazy, but that is all this game is. Take out all the copy and pasted elements in this game and what do you have?
    It's like going to a museum and seeing the same painting with different color. This game is only good enough to wipe your ass with, and even then, it aint charmin..    … Expand
  49. mareo2
    Apr 18, 2011
    4
    First I believed it was great deserving a 9 or 8, then after a few hours of playing the game I understood that it was a poor plot with characters not as likable as in ME 2 or DA:O and deserved more like a 7 or 6. Then I discovered a bunch of bugs piling up that underscored the impression of a rushed game and deserved more like a 5 or 4. The average user score of 4.4 is correct in theirFirst I believed it was great deserving a 9 or 8, then after a few hours of playing the game I understood that it was a poor plot with characters not as likable as in ME 2 or DA:O and deserved more like a 7 or 6. Then I discovered a bunch of bugs piling up that underscored the impression of a rushed game and deserved more like a 5 or 4. The average user score of 4.4 is correct in their unbiased verdict.… Expand
  50. Jumper_351
    Apr 23, 2011
    4
    Negatives: Dumbed down combat. Consists of mash this button till that guy dies, now do it again here. Simplistic level design. Honestly, I was insulted that they pushed this half-finished game onto us. Terrible.
  51. Kosma
    May 8, 2011
    4
    Simple, dumbed down, lacking everything that made the original have such potential. Bland story, constant reusing of the same locales.

    This is the most disappointing game of 2011 so far, feels like a budget cash-in for Bioware.
  52. Nyurena
    May 18, 2011
    4
    The combat system was a new streamlined approach that was enjoyable. Story was decent and your decisions had some weight. At first I felt it had far surpassed DAO in every way. Then the extensive level reuse and boring arbitrary fights set it. Every time I started to get immersed in the story a quest would send me to the same reused level and it would all evaporate. Kudos to bioware forThe combat system was a new streamlined approach that was enjoyable. Story was decent and your decisions had some weight. At first I felt it had far surpassed DAO in every way. Then the extensive level reuse and boring arbitrary fights set it. Every time I started to get immersed in the story a quest would send me to the same reused level and it would all evaporate. Kudos to bioware for trying some new and well implemented things, like the combo system, but you sold us a cheap and dragging game in the end. Don't let EA force to you cut so many corners to release early like this, or your well earned rep will suffer. I turned it to casual and ignored sidequests just to be able to finish it by the end.… Expand
  53. sid4975
    May 15, 2011
    4
    Im just so incredibly disappointed in this game that im actually taking the time to write about it. even though im sure no one will read it. when it comes to sequels why must developers dumb down and ruin everything that made the previous game great?! Will someone please tell me this. I must have played through DA1 about 20 times. I cant even get halfway through this game. its a damnIm just so incredibly disappointed in this game that im actually taking the time to write about it. even though im sure no one will read it. when it comes to sequels why must developers dumb down and ruin everything that made the previous game great?! Will someone please tell me this. I must have played through DA1 about 20 times. I cant even get halfway through this game. its a damn hack fest! They did the Same with mass effect 2 although not half as bad as this, but dumbed down none the less. I cant help but think any reviewer on here that gave this higher then a 5 has to be a developer. If you looking for an action/rpg experience look elsewhere. dragon age 1, mass effect 1, the witcher, and the soon to be released witcher 2!… Expand
  54. wrotos
    May 17, 2011
    4
    I,m really disappointed Abut this game. I expect good cRPG and i get game with bad history, graphics and terrible game play, Boring game, made for console,
  55. Dyalad
    May 24, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age 2 seems to be an experiment to introduce Bioware's classic RPG elements to console gaming. The result is at best disappointing.

    You play as Hawke, a human refugee from a town called Lothering. Through framed narrative, you lead Hawke's life through important events of his/her life and how they shape the world. As opposed to previous Bioware titles where several decisions would    Dragon Age 2 seems to be an experiment to introduce Bioware's classic RPG elements to console gaming. The result is at best disappointing.

    You play as Hawke, a human refugee from a town called Lothering. Through framed narrative, you lead Hawke's life through important events of his/her life and how they shape the world.

    As opposed to previous Bioware titles where several decisions would affect the game storyline, the only significant change in Dragon Age 2 is in regards to companion relationships. Discussions between companions will slightly vary depending which way they perceive you, but overall, they will still offer the same missions regardless which path you chose to pick.

    And this is where this game fails miserably. Where previous Bioware titles encouraged and rewarded replays, in Dragon Age the replay value is at best poor, arguably non-existent. On a second playthrough one will sadly realize that if they decide to pick opposite options than in their first playthrough, the consequences and dialog will be the same. By that I mean; if you refuse to complete a task, it will be forced upon you. I found that excruciating and shallow.

    The game ending is probably one of the worst I've seen out there for RPGs. It left me unsatisfied, and I basically felt I wasted 30 hours or so to get an ending that I figured out within the first 5 minutes of the game. The only comparable ending dissapointement I can think of was when I ended Neverwinter Nights 2 (original campaign).

    On to combat. The initial release on console did not have auto-attack option. The combat system was extremely tedious and soulcrushing. Had I done this review prior to be fixed, this game would've deserved a 2 at best.

    Combat is an omnipresent element in the game. Combat went to a classic tabletop style in Dragon Ages Origins to a mish mash button spam that sometimes reminded me of Winter Games or something. I think that the idea was good but poorly executed; if you hit the standard attack button 4 times, the 5th attack has an animation with a flourish and does a bit more damage. The other buttons can be used to map skills. Skill cooldowns usually were at least a dozen of seconds, which felt very long when spamming the auto attack button.

    Most combat scenes, if not all, have waves of enemies. While this concept works well in certain situations, its overuse made the game extremely frustrating; the way these waves appeared was most of the time questionable and definitely mood-breaking (bandits "jumping down" from an enclosed ceiling for example).

    Enemy variety is near non-existent. There is a handful of darkspawns (3 types), humanoids, 2 or 3 types of undeads, the odd unique-style bosses, and spiders. Did I mention spiders?

    I could continue going on, but I think I went over some of the things that made me rage the most about this game.

    Anyways. If you're looking for a RPG fix, look elsewhere, because this game has nothing that older western RPGs offer out there.    … Expand
  56. Redfordsto
    May 22, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's impossible to review this game without comparing to it's predecessor. The most direct reason being that it's billed as a sequel with the "II" hanging there rather than a sub-title indicating this is a relative concurrent adventure to the original. I played through Origin so many times, I had to remove some of the save character profiles to a flash drive because there was a limit on how many characters that I could create. For DA2, I played through four times to find any variation with regard to choice. There wasn't any. That being said...

    Pros: -The graphics engine has been improved. The set pieces are more picturesque than the original. Even the combat animations are more diverse and compelling. -The audio. Both effects and soundtrack are even better than the original. Inon Zur earned his keep yet again. If only there was someone to download the remix of Florence and the Machine's track. -Having a voiced hero does allow for a deeper connection to your hero. It's fun to hear your hero reflect your choices in tone. And the voice acting is excellent. -There are a few more character customization options as far as hair and facial hair... -You can import your saved games from Dragon Age: Origins. -Skill progression as far as branching rather than directly progressive is was more rewarding than just unlocking the next in a row or skills. -Your companions have individual skill trees that are useful. -There were a number or armor variations and weapon variations as far as appearance and textures. -The companion characters are unique and voiced well.

    Cons: -You can import your saved games from Dragon Age: Origins, but it makes no difference at all. The only purpose is to slightly vary a dozen or so comments made by ancillary characters. -A large amount of character customization is gone. No choice of who your character is with regard to backstory. No variation of races. You can choose your class, change your face, and upgrade skills. The opportunity to give more options to the player was lost. -The skill trees were inventive, but there was little in the way of improving skills. Rather than investing in skills that work with your style of gameplay you unlock another skill. Most skills are maxed at a single upgrade. -The endless repetition of dungeons. You see the same locations again and again. And again. -While the weapons and armor looked good, only your main character can use the armor. Your companions are only slightly customizable. -Choice doesn't matter like it once did. You side with someone or help someone escape harm and you end up getting a nice letter and do all the same quests regardless of choice. Your choices don't open up new locations or options only vary dialogue. The biggest choice you have is to not do some of the quests. -You spend 85% of your time in the same city. The story is suppose to take place over a decade but any change in the city are minimal. There are no new area or expansions. There's an occasional new wall or statue and you move live... once. And the only change to your mansion after a few year is you gain a few bottles of liquor and your love interest moves in a mandolin. -Where are the traps, the different types of arrows, various grenades, the runes, and all the potions. Instead of increasing variation, they are either stripped down or just plain gone. This also decreases tactical options. -The stories of all the potential love interests are all depressing. There are no options for happy endings. You're going to find out Fenris is alone, Merrill will alienate her clan, Isabella will do anything to get her ship, and Anders will start a war. While the stories and personalities are unique, their arcs are all downers. -The main story is a set of sidequests. While many are good, when you see the same locations more than a dozen times, it blurs into a mindless hack and fetch experience. Made more boring the second time because even if I sided with the mages on the first playthrough, I get to do the same missions on the second playthrough when siding with templars. And on the third playthrough while trying to stay impartial... which you can't. Further, the threads connecting the acts are thin. I find an artifact while trying to become rich and somehow it corrupts the final boss who I never really interact with till the final act. There's no sustained rivalry and no real growth considering you're supposed to enact the emergence of a hero. Nor do your companions really evolve over the course of the story, they seem obsessed with singular goals. It's a linear story with the false promise of choice. -The highlight that should have been the connection to your family fell way short. You have one act to get to know a sibling then you don't see them till the end of the game... or they died. The promise fell to the same overly dark theme of either killing everybody off or bitter realizations. -Plain lack of satisfaction upon completion compared to most games.    … Expand
  57. liotius
    Jun 1, 2011
    4
    Worst BioWare game I've played yet. Remarkably unfinished to such a laughable degree. Many of the zones are _exact_ copies of other zones, with easily identifiable markings to the fact. So much so in fact that they had to jury rig blockades for areas they didn't want you to go into, not even bothering to update the minimap, causing you to continually go toward implacable barriers. TheWorst BioWare game I've played yet. Remarkably unfinished to such a laughable degree. Many of the zones are _exact_ copies of other zones, with easily identifiable markings to the fact. So much so in fact that they had to jury rig blockades for areas they didn't want you to go into, not even bothering to update the minimap, causing you to continually go toward implacable barriers. The voice acting was poorest for the main character, every remark sounded like a sarcastic one, leaving no real movement on emotion.

    Buggy quests as well, some quests remain active even if there is absolutely no way to complete them.

    As far as the storyline goes absolutely felt like a beginning but if its the beginning then why number it as 2? Poor choice by some of the higher ups on naming this game.    … Expand
  58. tzedan
    Jun 20, 2011
    4
    Bioware should have released this game first and then DAO; that would at least give the impression of improvement. As it stands, this game provides no continuity of significance with Dragon Age Origins. The game play is dumbed down, the character development is no where to be found and the plot is weak. Seems like Bioware is betting all it's money on Mass Effect 3. I just hope then don'tBioware should have released this game first and then DAO; that would at least give the impression of improvement. As it stands, this game provides no continuity of significance with Dragon Age Origins. The game play is dumbed down, the character development is no where to be found and the plot is weak. Seems like Bioware is betting all it's money on Mass Effect 3. I just hope then don't mess that game up.… Expand
  59. laxleonidas
    Sep 17, 2011
    4
    Despite of all expectations, BioWare not only removed good ideas from predecessor, but also used new bad game mechanisms. Forget about tactital fighting, interesting plot and - what's most important - huge, secret world to explore.
  60. Kultur
    Sep 12, 2014
    4
    If this game wasn't preceded by DA:Origins it might have had a less negative impact on players, but since Origins was just that good (easily in my top 10 games all time), this game was a huge letdown.

    In DA2 the loot is named "junk", instead of having comparably amazing back-story for a simple painting found in a random barrel in Origins. Combat has been dumbed down, there's more    If this game wasn't preceded by DA:Origins it might have had a less negative impact on players, but since Origins was just that good (easily in my top 10 games all time), this game was a huge letdown.

    In DA2 the loot is named "junk", instead of having comparably amazing back-story for a simple painting found in a random barrel in Origins.
    Combat has been dumbed down, there's more flashiness to movement and strikes, but the depth of Origins combat has at best been preserved, often falling under the mark and never really improving gameplay.
    Promotional material touted claims of an interactive story that adapted as you went along, which was an outright lie. The ending is the same regardless of class and decisions which quickly becomes apparent and especially in the act finales.
    Dungeons - Oh the dungeons... most blatant copy/paste job performed in a AAA-title for me. No love was given to dungeon crawling, you will quickly recognize rooms and often whole sections of dungeons.
    The city - You will spend the majority of your time playing in the city which changes between the acts, giving a sense of time passing. But not enough, it's still the same levels reskinned a few times.

    Overall, a rushed and passionless sequel that rightly disappointed most fans. For some reason critic reviews were generally very favorable, the most flattering thing I can say about that is that maybe they got to play an alpha/beta build. I have a hard time believing any reviewer played the whole game before writing the review.    … Expand
  61. Ishman
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    Played on its own merits without any idea of DA:O this game would be quite solid.
    Having loved the original, and feeling like I was taking part in an epic quest that actually meant something, I was sorely disappointed with the follow up. Admittedly the first 10 hours or so were pretty Rad I thought, this was in part due to the fact that I was high as **** when I first got the game, but    Played on its own merits without any idea of DA:O this game would be quite solid.
    Having loved the original, and feeling like I was taking part in an epic quest that actually meant something, I was sorely disappointed with the follow up. Admittedly the first 10 hours or so were pretty Rad I thought, this was in part due to the fact that I was high as **** when I first got the game, but soon enough not even a big stack of weed couldn't improve this bland follow up. The action orientated combat didn't bother me as much as it has others, where it really let me down was the constantly repeating environments, the original had me trekking all over the place to a number of awesome locations, the sequel has going through the same old bland locales over and over. One of the few reviewers who must not have been paid off by EA put it best with "you can't have an epic storyline in your own backyard" or something like that, you get the gist. All in all its not a "bad game" in my mind, but not worthy of being the sequel to the excellent original. If you come to the game having never played the first you will probably enjoy it for what it is. Bioware really need to rethink there game plan for no. 3 especially since Skyrim is now out and has absorbed 80 hours of play time and I haven't really done jack **** so far. In summary, pay more and get Skyrim instead. Shame on you Bioware.Shame on You.    … Expand
  62. TolHydra
    Jan 7, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game really is a letdown...as a person who played Dragon Age: Origins 9 times through by writing this review. There are only a few things improved in Dragon Age II...Combat and in the aspects of character creation don't get me wrong, NOT being able to play any other races sucks badly but i loved creating a female hawk I could live with the voiced character..it didn't seemed very odd since i also love Bioware's other franchise Mass Effect; Only god knows how much would i enjoy to blow up a certain mage companion (the elf one) I mean i could live with the emo character but the thing made me frustrated was especially moral choices..AND MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER RESURRECTIONS REGARDING THE CHOICES OF THE FIRST GAME...You see i killed this lovely companion in the first game and imported my save to only see BIOWARE SIMPLY DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN THING about your moral choice..or role playing therefore this game has a real RPG value its a "auto-attack hack'n slash" yeah that's it .… Expand
  63. Resplendent
    Jan 27, 2012
    4
    Scoring this game is complicated for me. One the one hand, I will admit to it being a good time killer. But as a sequel to DA:O, which I absolutely loved, it falls completely flat. The story felt unimportant, several of the characters were just annoying, and the copy-paste maps were simply insulting to the player. If "epic adventure" is what you had in mind when you picked this up, you'reScoring this game is complicated for me. One the one hand, I will admit to it being a good time killer. But as a sequel to DA:O, which I absolutely loved, it falls completely flat. The story felt unimportant, several of the characters were just annoying, and the copy-paste maps were simply insulting to the player. If "epic adventure" is what you had in mind when you picked this up, you're going to be sorely disappointed. For $10 though, there are worse ways to kill several hours. Get it if you have absolutely nothing better to play, but prepare to end up wanting to strangle whoever green-lit DA2- truly a mistitled game if there ever was one.… Expand
  64. huzz
    Jun 13, 2012
    4
    A disappointing sequel. It seemed like Bioware left their core fans behind in an attempt to try and gain a more mainstream audience. DA2 fell short do to things like: re-used maps, simplified combat, boring characters, a weak story, a lack of important decisions, locked companion armor and many useless items.
  65. Aeryx
    Sep 20, 2012
    4
    Requires no brains to operate. STAY AWAY fans of Dragon Age Origins. As a long-time of Bioware, Dragon Age 2 for me was the first tangible indicator that something was really wrong with them and they were no longer interested in making great games--- only milking their franchises. The gameplay is bland, the dungeons freakishly recycled and the gameplay requires no brains. It you hate yourRequires no brains to operate. STAY AWAY fans of Dragon Age Origins. As a long-time of Bioware, Dragon Age 2 for me was the first tangible indicator that something was really wrong with them and they were no longer interested in making great games--- only milking their franchises. The gameplay is bland, the dungeons freakishly recycled and the gameplay requires no brains. It you hate your money, burn it in the fireplace just don't buy this game.… Expand
  66. Riven126
    Oct 28, 2012
    4
    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. It may be a sequel to Origins in name, but the game itself tells a very different story, and that;s the ultimate problem. Not only is Dagon Age 2 a huge departure from the original, but it's also worse in almost every way.

    Level re-use is easily the worst offense. The game lasts about 30-35 hours on normal difficulty and if you complete all the side quests.    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. It may be a sequel to Origins in name, but the game itself tells a very different story, and that;s the ultimate problem. Not only is Dagon Age 2 a huge departure from the original, but it's also worse in almost every way.

    Level re-use is easily the worst offense. The game lasts about 30-35 hours on normal difficulty and if you complete all the side quests. In that time, you will revisit the same three or four dungeons over a dozen times. To call this game repetative would be an understatement.

    The combat in the game is a mixed bag. It often feels like Bioware was trying find a happy middle ground between God of War and the original combat system. Because of this, combat suffers and both camps are left unsatisfied. While the combat is more flashy than the original, things quickly become chaotic when "waves" of enemies begin attacking. Combined with overly long cool downs for your main abilities, combat feels more like a chore.

    Graphically, the game also fails to impress. From the art direction to the textures, the lighting, and atmosphere (or lack there of) all fail to rise above the mediocre level. Kirkwall (the city you are imprisoned in) is full and lifeless. NPC's are tucked away in corners and never interact with you. The city lacks detail and looks very unfinished because of it. Character models are too clean and also lack detail. That said, animations have been improved from the original and look more fluid.

    The UI has been redesigned and for the most part, it looks a bit cleaner. Sadly, functionality has taken a hit. Unlike Origins, the "tier" system that was used to determine the value of an item has been replaced with a "star" system. This makes it very difficult to manage inventory and find matching sets of armor. The "junk" bin still exists, but is primarily used to store things that you randomly pick up around town instead of it's role in Origins as a folder to store all your unwanted gear in before selling it to a merchant.

    The story fails to make a compelling case for the player to care about what's goin on within the city. The two central conflicts are the Qunari invasion and the Mage/Templar conflict. This may come as a shock to those who expected the story to pick up where Awakening left off. These two major conflicts essentially go nowhere and leave the player out in the wind. They feel very forced thanks to the abysmal writing that's present.

    Because the writing is so poor, the characters and character interaction really suffer. Unlike Origins, you cannot simply talk to your companions whenever you like. Instead you have to wait until you get a message in your journal telling you to go visit that character. Interactions are often very brief and feel forced. The most annoying part about this is you must travel across Kirkwall to preset destinations in order to talk with your companions. Which means you have to sit through load screens before you get there.

    The characters themselves range from uninteresting to almost interesting to "I want to kill that guy". Unlike Origins, which had truly interesting and deep characters with a a good amount of dialogue, Dragon Age 2 offers characters that feel like cardboard cut outs that are simply there to amuse or frustrate you. Anders frustrates you and Isabela amuses you. Banter is actually far more interesting to listen to than real dialogue.

    Unlike Origins, Dragon Age 2 uses a voiced-protagonist. The voice acting is terrible and sounds like there was just no effort put in. The dialogue wheel has been imported from Mass Effect to replace the dialogue tree from Origins, leaving the player with only three responses in most situations: Good, sarcastic, and evil. The wheel simply doesn't work as well as it does in Mass Effect despite Bioware adding pictures to the center of the wheel to help players understand what's good, sarcastic, and evil.

    At the end of the day, Dragon Age 2 is an uninspired mess of a game. While there may be some redeeming qualities to be found, it is without a doubt a step backward for the series. It does to many basic things wrong that the first game got right the first time. It fails to deliver compelling characters and a strong narrative. The world of Thedas has never felt smaller and Kirkwall is more of a prison than a city. My advice to anyone who enjoyed Origins and Awakening is to replay those great games and forget about Dragon Age 2. But if you absolutely must play it, I strongly suggest you rent it or borrow it from a friend.    … Expand
  67. yowave
    Jan 4, 2013
    4
    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game.

    The Bad: The game is short almost feel rushed, the story is lacking beyond believe, characters are not memorable, encounter areas get recycled throughout the game, your followers can't equip armor, the soundtrack is bad, enemies appear out of nowhere. The Good: Mediocre combat mechanics. It's almost as if they didn't really gave their all to create    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game.

    The Bad:
    The game is short almost feel rushed, the story is lacking beyond believe, characters are not memorable, encounter areas get recycled throughout the game, your followers can't equip armor, the soundtrack is bad, enemies appear out of nowhere.

    The Good:
    Mediocre combat mechanics.

    It's almost as if they didn't really gave their all to create this game, and i think the one to blame should be EA, the publisher who probably rushed this game and didn't gave Bioware enough time to make yet another master piece.
    I bought this game on day one solely because it's "little" brother Dragon Age: Origins was such a great game, and i was disappointed.

    When comparing Dragon Age 2 to it's "little" brother Dragon Age: Origins, you start to wonder what went wrong. it takes some effort to ruin such a game, especially when the ground have been taken care of by their previous game.

    There were days that i swore loyalty to Bioware, those days are gone.    … Expand
  68. houyi111
    Dec 16, 2013
    4
    If the title is not "dragon age", I might give it a 7 out of 10. The voice acting and the dialogue are good and often funny. The combat and customization is easy to adapt. The whole game is neat. The auto-saving is handy and well-done. However, it is supposed to be the sequel of the DA:origins, but it just goes horribly wrong.
    I didn't play many WRPG games, but I also never played a    If the title is not "dragon age", I might give it a 7 out of 10. The voice acting and the dialogue are good and often funny. The combat and customization is easy to adapt. The whole game is neat. The auto-saving is handy and well-done. However, it is supposed to be the sequel of the DA:origins, but it just goes horribly wrong.
    I didn't play many WRPG games, but I also never played a modern game where the game setting is A SMALL CITY. The abuse of reusing maps is just unforgivable. None of the characters is interesting. The romance is just dull. The story is way too linear and stupid to say the less. I am also amazed that Bioware surely has a twist way to turn an epic story to something beyond turd. Like in ME franchise, you think the whole plot is to unite everyone to fight reapers, but it turned out synthetics vs organics is the only core. In dragon age, you got the idea that unite everyone to fight the blight, but no, no, no, the actual and the only conflict in DA is Templars vs Mages. wtf, bioware.    … Expand
  69. mnKx
    Jun 23, 2020
    4
    Coming fresh from beating DA:O and all of it expansions it makes really frustrating playing this game
    It has basically the same type of combat and commands as DA:O but executed very differently.
    The combat (and the animations) got a lot faster mostly because of the way they design the levels and the combat encounters. Instead of having all the enemies placed on the map, you will find a    Coming fresh from beating DA:O and all of it expansions it makes really frustrating playing this game
    It has basically the same type of combat and commands as DA:O but executed very differently.
    The combat (and the animations) got a lot faster mostly because of the way they design the levels and the combat encounters. Instead of having all the enemies placed on the map, you will find a small group and when you start combat they will have spawning waves of enemies that come from pretty much everywhere in the surrounding area of the encounter, which would be fine if the gameplay itself was something more appropriate to this kind of design (something like Devil May Cry or even Diablo), instead we have very generic and streamlined gameplay mechanics that doesn't fit the type of game that was supposed to be.
    The gameplay changes are probably the worst part about this sequel (even though I liked the new animations compared to the dull ones from DA:O), but another thing that buggered me the most was the reused scenarios and the way they did it, because a lot of times you would do a few missions in a row that used the same scenario but in a different part of the map, which was very bad for immersion
    There are a few things good about the game, but as a Dragon Age title is a disappointment    … Expand
  70. RimJobson
    Sep 27, 2014
    4
    Dragon Age II is the best representation of games that suffer due to new elements leading to neglect of old ones.

    Change is never a bad thing, but its execution is what makes or breaks games that label themselves as the "next step" on the series' evolutionary ladder. Dragon Age II is no different, change is what made the parts of the game that were praised and change is what broke the    Dragon Age II is the best representation of games that suffer due to new elements leading to neglect of old ones.

    Change is never a bad thing, but its execution is what makes or breaks games that label themselves as the "next step" on the series' evolutionary ladder. Dragon Age II is no different, change is what made the parts of the game that were praised and change is what broke the parts of the game that were hated.

    The best thing about change in regards to Dragon II is definitely the combat. While not extraordinary, the fact that you play a bigger part in how things unfold allows for a more fun combat experience rather than treating it as a "Press A and watch until someone needs micro-managing" chore.

    However, that is where the well-executed change ends. The new system of personality was not developed upon enough, making it seem more as a meaningless statistic rather than one that actually impacted the story, with friendship and rivalry following the same path. Companions were not as developed as in the first game, making them seem more like something you would like to read a Wiki article on than do a personal quest for. Maps were a joke, with many environments being recycled to the point of being ludicrous (fighting at least 4 different factions in the same cave or warehouse at different times, for instance). The plot was not completely terrible, but paled in comparison to that of the first, which is a serious problem if you're dealing with a series and not just a standalone game.

    All in all, the game suffered from lack of force concentration: attempting to "revolutionize" so many aspects of the game that you dilute the framework of it to the point of decaying its value.

    Is it a terrible game on its own? No, it is mediocre but certainly not the worst I've ever played.
    Is it a terrible installment of the Dragon Age series? Without a doubt.    … Expand
  71. PlutoniumTiger
    Mar 16, 2011
    3
    First of all, just to clear things up, "Avanost" is a Bioware engineer. You see, as long as the critic ratings are positive, Bioware care about their "fans", & their opinions. But when the user reviews are negative, Bioware just dismiss them as an "overreaction". Thats right, we are all far too stupid to play proper RPGs - all we want is dumbed-downed drivel, but we just don't know it!
  72. Hynda
    Mar 10, 2011
    3
    Bioware have abandoned us, they just wanted more money, so they got rid of every kind of complex aspect about this game, people blames wii for being casual, but sadly the whole industry is everyday more and more casual. And with Dragon age 2, I just reached the limit, everything on this game, from the lack of story and complexity, the lack of any sort of deph in the gameplay, and the wayBioware have abandoned us, they just wanted more money, so they got rid of every kind of complex aspect about this game, people blames wii for being casual, but sadly the whole industry is everyday more and more casual. And with Dragon age 2, I just reached the limit, everything on this game, from the lack of story and complexity, the lack of any sort of deph in the gameplay, and the way its portrayed as a hack and slash, is just an example of how much companies, like EA or bioware really care about their fans. They dont give a crap. This is the last time I am buying a bioware game, I guess they'll do the same with mass effect 3, I bet they will make a game for casual people who dont want to think about anything but follow instructions and pressing buttons to kill things to the end. The RPG is dead this generation gentlemen.… Expand
  73. Dracowyr
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    A company that once saved the RPG genre, is now destroying it. Poor production value, and dumbed-down gameplay aims this game at a more 'casual' console market. I was a fan of Bioware for over 13 years - they were one of the few companies that I would buy a game from without having tried it out first. They were shining examples in the game industry. No longer.

    A terrible disappointment, I    A company that once saved the RPG genre, is now destroying it. Poor production value, and dumbed-down gameplay aims this game at a more 'casual' console market. I was a fan of Bioware for over 13 years - they were one of the few companies that I would buy a game from without having tried it out first. They were shining examples in the game industry. No longer.

    A terrible disappointment, I feel this game would have been better received as a DLC rather than a full game.

    Is this EA's hand at work?    … Expand
  74. defive
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    Sad to see how far the once great Bioware has fallen. DA2 is a rushed, dumbed down travesty of a game designed to cater to the lowest common denominator of brain-dead console gamers. The mechanics are overly simplistic, the plot and characterisation are bland and the supposed 'dark' side of the game feels like it was driven completely from EA's focus groups. And that's before we even getSad to see how far the once great Bioware has fallen. DA2 is a rushed, dumbed down travesty of a game designed to cater to the lowest common denominator of brain-dead console gamers. The mechanics are overly simplistic, the plot and characterisation are bland and the supposed 'dark' side of the game feels like it was driven completely from EA's focus groups. And that's before we even get to the isse of Day 0 paid for DLC.… Expand
  75. alien5
    Mar 10, 2011
    3
    DA:O Managed to take Biowares "tried and true" formula for action RPGs and make it neither a compelling action game, nor a compelling RPG. DA2 continues with their woefully generic lore and improves the overall story a bit, while trying to put a strong emphasis on action oriented combat this time. What's left is a clunky mess with fewer options, and an overall worse product than DA:O whichDA:O Managed to take Biowares "tried and true" formula for action RPGs and make it neither a compelling action game, nor a compelling RPG. DA2 continues with their woefully generic lore and improves the overall story a bit, while trying to put a strong emphasis on action oriented combat this time. What's left is a clunky mess with fewer options, and an overall worse product than DA:O which is sure to appeal to fewer people. If you need romance trees, go for it. It's Bioware's strong suite. If you're looking for an RPG or action game with engaging combat, deep or original backstory, and meaningful character building options, where you aren't shoehorned into a terrible 'alignment' system, look elsewhere.… Expand
  76. L0stR3negade
    Mar 26, 2011
    3
    Horrible ending and just like the first game it just falls really short. This game needed more time in development. Not worth 60 dollars at all =(....
  77. Devil_Man_X
    Jul 5, 2011
    3
    The User ratings have this one almost dead on. No it's not the worst game out there but just because you can make a game look relatively pretty doesn't mean it's good. Dragon age suffers from one game breaking flaw, greed. EA and Bioware show their true colors here. They have changed everything that made Dragon Age Origins such an incredible game. Not in the name of improvement but to sellThe User ratings have this one almost dead on. No it's not the worst game out there but just because you can make a game look relatively pretty doesn't mean it's good. Dragon age suffers from one game breaking flaw, greed. EA and Bioware show their true colors here. They have changed everything that made Dragon Age Origins such an incredible game. Not in the name of improvement but to sell more copies. I do see how some of the changes could have been for the better if done properly yet others are just senseless. The battle system needed reworked if only for the console versions. However the changes they made left it feeling less like an RPG and more like a bad hack and slash. Gone are all the deep character customizations. You simply choose gender and class. No more custom backstory. If this was any other franchise it would have been better off. Calling it a sequel to Dragon Age simply ruined it. No one buys a sequel hoping it will be more simplistic with a simple story and fewer options. If you buy a sequel to a beloved franchise you expect it to improve on itself. The story is borderline garbage and the way it's delivered is even worse. Don't get excited for some upcoming exploration or engaging plotline as the game will simply skip ahead just as you're getting into it. Yes this dungeon looks exactly like the last one just make a left here instead of a right. Bioware has openly admitted to using the same dungeon layout multiple times. Here is the bottom line. I like many others was expecting a sequel. Hoping to continue my story or atleast flesh out the world of Dragon Age. Instead I was sold a crappy 5 yr old baldurs gate wannabe with modern graphics. I was not expecting Mass Effect Medieval Edition. Bioware is hands down the most overrated developer around. They consistently make terrible games that have great stories. They really should just consider making movies instead of games. We would all be better off… Expand
  78. tobi963
    Mar 8, 2011
    3
    Never good when you make a game worse than it's prequel. So many problems with the game. So much hype over it by DA fans. The "professional" reviewers are giving it a high score for some reason I do not know.
  79. NoWisdomAtAll
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    After the scam EA/Bioware pulled with the Signature Edition I decided to buy the regular copy of the game and my experience wasn't very good this whole game seems more like a scam project than a game, as many have said it's shorter than the previous title, the characters are quite interesting upon first meet but then it goes downhill from there. The areas seem different in some ways butAfter the scam EA/Bioware pulled with the Signature Edition I decided to buy the regular copy of the game and my experience wasn't very good this whole game seems more like a scam project than a game, as many have said it's shorter than the previous title, the characters are quite interesting upon first meet but then it goes downhill from there. The areas seem different in some ways but more or less copied and pasted work and for the story.....it wasn't one of Bioware's best. Overall this game as I said in the beginning feels like a giant scam.… Expand
  80. GlenAllenHill
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    Classic case of a game developer "dumbing down" a franchise to appeal to a larger audience. Dragon Age: Origins laid a great foundation for the future of the DA franchise. It was a deep game with complex RPG elements.

    Dragon Age II, however, basically stripped down most of the RPG elements to the lowest common denominator. So instead of a deep, fulfilling game that appeals to RPG fans,    Classic case of a game developer "dumbing down" a franchise to appeal to a larger audience. Dragon Age: Origins laid a great foundation for the future of the DA franchise. It was a deep game with complex RPG elements.

    Dragon Age II, however, basically stripped down most of the RPG elements to the lowest common denominator. So instead of a deep, fulfilling game that appeals to RPG fans, the result is a watered-down "hack-and-slash" game that tries to call itself an RPG that appeals to no one.    … Expand
  81. jigoku
    Mar 10, 2011
    3
    (skip to the paragraph starting with "Then along came DA2" to skip the DA:O-related intro)

    As a PC gamer, DA:O was my introduction into RPGs. And I have to say, even getting started was daunting to me. I had envisioned a vast open world of freedom, choice, adventure and fun, based on the reviews I had read and all the buzz I had been hearing about the game. Instead what I got with the    (skip to the paragraph starting with "Then along came DA2" to skip the DA:O-related intro)

    As a PC gamer, DA:O was my introduction into RPGs. And I have to say, even getting started was daunting to me. I had envisioned a vast open world of freedom, choice, adventure and fun, based on the reviews I had read and all the buzz I had been hearing about the game.
    Instead what I got with the first Dragon Age was a linear, repetitive, unimaginative and boring affair where nothing really seemed to come alive and "choice" was a thinly-veiled illusion conjured up most ham-handedly by uninspired developers.
    Also I did not care for the looks of this world and its inhabitants, which does not help immersion one bit (bland lighting, unimpressive structures, flat and unexpressive faces, goofy armor, ...).
    What got me the most though was a thing called "level scaling". Gone is the thrill of slaying a beast that once seemed completely indomitable, after having spent hours "training" your characters in preparation for your revenge. Instead everything and everyone simply levels up along with you. Disgusting.

    Then along came DA2. From what I was reading this true sequel to the Dragon Age saga promised to be substantially different from DA:O, and I was excited. Even though DA:O was a huge letdown, it had kindled within me the hope for something truly epic and inspired.
    I had been reading various outcries from die-hard RPG fans and DA:O fans, but since the latter game had disappointed me so these outcries only strengthened my conviction that DA2 might actually be different; and I might actually enjoy it.
    Not so.
    Take all the negative comments on DA:O above (uninspired, unimaginative, linear, ugly, repetitive, devoid of actual choice, ....) and multiply them by any factor you may deem impressive, and you have DA2.
    * The corridors of DA:O have become even narrower and more confining;
    * The level design is unapologetically lazy (copy-pasted dungeons and caves);
    * The choice of story-progressing replies has dwindled to a basic three;
    * The graphics are at a playstation 2 level (although the overall style has improved);
    * Combat has been dumbed down to a button-mashing fest artificially rendered more difficult with mid-fight enemy spawns (only remotely enjoyable difficulty setting is "nightmare" but as said before the difficulty is artificial);
    * Kirkwall (where all but the entire game takes place) feels and looks artificial and devoid of any bustle and - indeed - life itself;
    I could go on and on about how much I have started to loathe DA2, but in the end it really is my fault for pre-ordering a game which promised to be "different" but turned out to be merely "worse".
    Much worse.    … Expand
  82. babyfarmer
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    Dragon Age II is my biggest letdown in video game history. DA: Origins is one of my favorite games this generation, and I was very stoked for DA2. Alas, I was just set up to be disappointed, everything that was great about the original has been replaced or removed. The entire game takes place in one city, unlike Origins, where you went from city to city in the world. The combat has beenDragon Age II is my biggest letdown in video game history. DA: Origins is one of my favorite games this generation, and I was very stoked for DA2. Alas, I was just set up to be disappointed, everything that was great about the original has been replaced or removed. The entire game takes place in one city, unlike Origins, where you went from city to city in the world. The combat has been sped up, dumbed down, streamlined, however you want to describe it. The combat devolves into mashing the attack button over and over and OVER. Against mobs that respawn out of nowhere, simply to inflate the game's difficulty by throwing more enemies at you, instead of making the enemies harder. If I wanted to mash the attack button all day long, I would play Dynasty Warriors, I thought this was an RPG? The writing and the "story" are laughable, especially by BioWare standards. All in all, a major letdown and the start of a once great video game developer going down the toilet. R.I.P. BioWare.… Expand
  83. Al_Borland
    Mar 10, 2011
    3
    The biggest mistake Bioware made with this game was calling it Dragon Age 2 and not something like Dragon Age: Refugee or Dragon Age Adventures. The game feels like a very disappointing follow-up to Dragon Age Origins.

    While they did manage to fix several issues with the origin series it seems in the end their solutions only caused more problems. The game feels closed in with little to no    The biggest mistake Bioware made with this game was calling it Dragon Age 2 and not something like Dragon Age: Refugee or Dragon Age Adventures. The game feels like a very disappointing follow-up to Dragon Age Origins.

    While they did manage to fix several issues with the origin series it seems in the end their solutions only caused more problems. The game feels closed in with little to no immersion in the environment. A bustling city supposedly packed with thrones of refugees is empty and barren yet manages to feel small at the same time.

    Emotional connection to characters within the game is bland at best and you will often find yourself rolling your eyes at the campy writing provided within the game that barely manages to hold your attention long enough to keep going.

    Combat while feeling a little bit more engaging than Origins will quickly grow old on you as every fight is thrones of cannon fodder thrown at you that literally appears out of thin air repeatedly during the fight. Leaving little to no room for any kind of strategic fight. This is usually accompanied by one tough enemy in the middle of the fray that you have to try and deal with while fighting wave after wave of "zerging" minions. This isn't just a few fights - it is almost every fight in the game, which is extremely disappointing.

    On the plus side inventory management is no longer an issue in this game as all characters besides the main hero/ine is the only character that actually has equipment (aside from weapons and accessories) that you can actually change. While you have limited inventory space you never feel any need to pick up loot off the monsters or treasure chests as generally everything your character already has given to you is several times better.

    The game on a whole feels sloppy and lazily made. Empty town and little to no interaction with what NPCS in the game - including your own party members really dumbs down any immersion in the game and constantly ruins any chance of getting into the game. An example of the lack of immersion in this game would be the majority of merchants in the game. You are unable to engage in conversation with them or even haggle on prices. Instead you simply click on a box that opens up the shop, no welcomed greeting, no discussion of their wares, just opening a box and buying what you want or selling the garbage you loot. It just feels lazy and uncaring. Even the icons in the game are recycled and sloppy looking. Health potions have a heart on them and injury kits - which used to be elaborate in DA:O are simply potions with a + sign on them.

    It is these little details that show the overall lack of care put into this game. Audio and music in the game also appears to be recycled from the previous game and some sound effects seem to date even further back to early Neverwinter Night days.

    If you absolutely have to have this game I suggest waiting a year for the ultimate edition which will be cheap, and contain all the DLC and extra materials you've already missed out on and would end up paying more of your hard earned money for. While the game keeps you mildly entertained - there are better games to spend your money on.    … Expand
  84. Somas99999
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    I wanted to like this game so badly. The character voices are top notch, and their personalities are well developed, but this could not save the game. There is no real story, only about 10 individual areas in the entire game that are constantly revisited, and, on PC, the combat is simply clicking once on an enemy and watching a character perform a five hit combo repeatedly. To be fair,I wanted to like this game so badly. The character voices are top notch, and their personalities are well developed, but this could not save the game. There is no real story, only about 10 individual areas in the entire game that are constantly revisited, and, on PC, the combat is simply clicking once on an enemy and watching a character perform a five hit combo repeatedly. To be fair, using abilities does add some differentiation to combat, but, playing as a rogue at least, I found that most of the time I would find myself in a situation where all of my abilities were on cool down before the end of every battle. This was usually because each combat encounter seems to drag on to long. Most of the fights pit you against around 15+ enemies, and as soon as the vast majority are dead, reinforcements will literally rain from the sky. I went into this game expecting an RPG with hack and slash elements, what I got was God of War without all the button mashing.… Expand
  85. jean-francois
    Mar 12, 2011
    3
    I really enjoyed the first dragon age game. It was one of my favorite game of all time. But I did not enjoy this second installment. The history is bland, the role-playing elements has been dumbed down. You cannot pick your race, talk to your companions during missions. The dialogs are boring and the characters forgettable. A note to Bioware: graphics and combat are not the onlyI really enjoyed the first dragon age game. It was one of my favorite game of all time. But I did not enjoy this second installment. The history is bland, the role-playing elements has been dumbed down. You cannot pick your race, talk to your companions during missions. The dialogs are boring and the characters forgettable. A note to Bioware: graphics and combat are not the only things that I enjoy in a game!… Expand
  86. thelivingsauce2
    Mar 12, 2011
    3
    After playing this game I have to say it has to be the worst bioware game ever released. I have a few problems with the game one in the constant re-use of areas. The second is after I heard about EA banning a player from playing their game for calling them a devil company I knew I made a mistake in buying this game. Then I recently heard about EA and Bioware lying to their fans aboutAfter playing this game I have to say it has to be the worst bioware game ever released. I have a few problems with the game one in the constant re-use of areas. The second is after I heard about EA banning a player from playing their game for calling them a devil company I knew I made a mistake in buying this game. Then I recently heard about EA and Bioware lying to their fans about securom in their game and last I heard about how they scammed many a customer out of the Signature Edition because they were to lazy to make enough copies for their fans, but more so is how Mike Laidlaw in an interview pretty much said "people hate complex things so we must call our fans stupid under the guise we are doing what we feel is going to be better"(ok not exactly like that). Now for the game I CAN NOT stress enough how many times they re-used the same locations. The characters you can only talk to at set intervals(at each new act). I think this is the beginning of the end of bioware cause if this is the best they can do under EA then it's clear EA will continue to rush bioware's games out for the sake of making a quick buck, but hey bioware decided to merge with ea.… Expand
  87. Tomtzor
    Jun 20, 2011
    3
    This is not a role-playing game, it's a dumbed down piece of sh*t!
    How could you do this to the Dragon Age franchise EA?!
    Shame on you! You can't talk with any of the characters (except when the game allows you 1 out of 100 times ) You can't customize anything basically! The story is crap, the characters are crap. But goddamnit! It's Dragon Age! I pushed through and enjoyed parts of it, I    This is not a role-playing game, it's a dumbed down piece of sh*t!
    How could you do this to the Dragon Age franchise EA?!
    Shame on you!
    You can't talk with any of the characters (except when the game allows you 1 out of 100 times )
    You can't customize anything basically!
    The story is crap, the characters are crap.
    But goddamnit! It's Dragon Age!
    I pushed through and enjoyed parts of it, I must admit
    I did not mind the changes to combat so much, it was pretty engaging, and the interface was really neat!
    But the rest is just an on-going train-wreck of quick cash-in of a franchise
    I'll go nuts if they do the same with Mass Effect 3!
    Cmon Bioware! You are the rpg kings!
    Bring it next time!    … Expand
  88. TheDeadHeart
    Mar 13, 2011
    3
    The Dragon Age franchise has been tossed into the corporate machinery and spat out as a bruised and crippled shell of its former self. The game manages to deliver a thoroughly mediocre and disappointing experience to both RPG and casual gaming fans alike.

    The combat could possibly be the largest flaw with the game, however it is but one of many large flaws. Many skills and abilities    The Dragon Age franchise has been tossed into the corporate machinery and spat out as a bruised and crippled shell of its former self. The game manages to deliver a thoroughly mediocre and disappointing experience to both RPG and casual gaming fans alike.

    The combat could possibly be the largest flaw with the game, however it is but one of many large flaws. Many skills and abilities present in DA: O which made the game an overly tactical, challenging and rewarding experience have been removed in favor of more 'exciting and fast paced' combat. In Dragon Age 2's case 'exciting and fast paced' equates into the mindless ability bashing. Combat now relies heavily upon 'wave' mechanics. Where instead of individual mobs of enemies the player will be bombarded by wave after wave of enemy turning an epic skirmish into a tedious exercise of endurance. Most side quests are trivial and generic which furthermore offer no further insight into the game world and hold little other responsibility other than keeping the player distracted for a few extra hours collecting X number of items..

    The visuals have undergone an upheaval, yet surprisingly manages to look worse than its predecessor.
    The combat now resembles something out of a Devil May Cry game, rather than the style set in DA:O. The visceral and realistic style of Origins now replaced with an over sensationalized gratuitous flood of warrior aerobatics and bloody explosions. Many Caves, mountains, roads used again and again presumably due to constraints imposed by the soulless suits over in EA pushing for a speedy release and a fast cash-in. Dragon Age: Origins was a modern day throwback to classic RPG games: It incorporated engaging Tactical gameplay , interesting characters and appropriate use of dialog selection and an immersive fantasy setting imbued with a touch of gritty realism to provide a satisfying fantasy experience. Because of this the game was critically acclaimed and sold very well.
    Now letâ    … Expand
  89. KcSmiff
    Mar 13, 2011
    3
    Vast amount of visual bugs which give horrible performance with a Geforce 580. Even when the game is running smoothly, I can't help but notice the obvious copy-pasting of dungeons/caves. The feeling that the quests are all going to the same places as other quests all the time. God knows what the popular game review sites are on, this is no where near on par with Dragon Age: Origins, letVast amount of visual bugs which give horrible performance with a Geforce 580. Even when the game is running smoothly, I can't help but notice the obvious copy-pasting of dungeons/caves. The feeling that the quests are all going to the same places as other quests all the time. God knows what the popular game review sites are on, this is no where near on par with Dragon Age: Origins, let alone an improvement. I liked the combat more on this one, but everything else brings it down and nullifies it. Very mediocre and most likely rushed game; unexpected lackluster installment to the acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins.… Expand
  90. keep
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    The worst BW game. There is nothing to comments here. do not even think about buying it. Linear plot, miserable battle system, it is not even an RPG, it's more like a bad action...
  91. Nerresand
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    Story - 5/10
    While I appreciate the divergence from the stereotypical "save the universe from an unspeakable evil" in favor of a more down-to-earth story, they spoiled an opportunity here. Not being grandiose doesn't mean the story can't be good and interesting, and this one wasn't particularly either one.
    Graphics/Audio - 4/10 I actually liked Origins' graphics and sound much more.    Story - 5/10
    While I appreciate the divergence from the stereotypical "save the universe from an unspeakable evil" in favor of a more down-to-earth story, they spoiled an opportunity here. Not being grandiose doesn't mean the story can't be good and interesting, and this one wasn't particularly either one.

    Graphics/Audio - 4/10
    I actually liked Origins' graphics and sound much more. It's just personal preference, but I feel that DA2 looks and sounds more like a comic book than a good RPG.

    Speaking of RPG... 2/10
    The positive spin is that this game was made "more accessible". Unfortunately, I feel that this spoiled part of what made Origins so good - it was a game that focused on RP elements more than most, and they sold out. Interacting with the characters is a shallow experience, inexplicably made more difficult than it needs to be and offering very little satisfaction from a roleplaying perspective. This is a roleplaying game, and while personal character customization and choice are part of that, the RP elements that Dragon Age already had were very good, and just needed a little work; I was surprised and disappointed to discover the gigantic step backwards. Almost everything having to do with your party members is worse than it was in Origins, from customizing their gear, to having conversations with them, to affecting their personalities, to making sweet love with them in a campsite. Overall - 3/10
    Bioware seems to have taken the approach that simplicity is good, delivering a mindless comic book of absurd gore (one fatal sword slash causes an enemy to explode in a cloud of blood and its armor to, for some reason, pop into a dozen pieces?) and lackluster story. Simplicity is a very bad approach for an RPG, however, and a great many things that only needed minor improvement (or didn't need fixing) were completely destroyed in this sequel. Your opinion of DA2 will very likely depend on what you liked or didn't like about DAO. If you were disappointed with the action and thought the overall game was too complex, you'll probably like it. If you liked the core RP elements, you probably won't.    … Expand
  92. Blaz
    Mar 16, 2011
    3
    Really disappointing.They simplified everything,the first game had decent game mechanics and a slightly better combat system,it feels like a game released in beta stage,and worse of all,i've even payed for this game
  93. Lawlimnator
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    Visual: 3/10. Too much junk that bugs me.
    Pros-
    1. They're in hi-def (that's to be expected nowadays, though). Cons- 1. Ground mapping re-used over and over and over. I know this can be real-to-life as far as buildings go, but why are all the caves and mountains the same? 2. Certain people from past games physically changed way too much. 3. Hair. I keep seeing hair do things it    Visual: 3/10. Too much junk that bugs me.
    Pros-
    1. They're in hi-def (that's to be expected nowadays, though).
    Cons-
    1. Ground mapping re-used over and over and over. I know this can be real-to-life as far as buildings go, but why are all the caves and mountains the same?
    2. Certain people from past games physically changed way too much.
    3. Hair. I keep seeing hair do things it shouldn't. While I forgive hair falling through bodies and the like, I can't honestly say I'm pleased about the hair on the back of the elven leader's neck overlapping her collar. Or in other parts, not being connected to her neck at all. It's little wonder half the characters have short or pulled up hair in this game.
    4. Rarely, but sometimes, I can see the audio not having great lip sync. 5. Most non-important characters are replicas (or close to it) of someone else. I don't just mean the horde of enemies you're cutting through, I mean anyone that doesn't have much screen time. Like character A from side quest B looks too much like character B from side quest A.
    Audio: 6/10
    Pros-
    1. Voice acting on main characters is always good, and overall, I only had one character that really bugged me, voice-acting wise.
    2. The main character (i.e. YOU) actually talks. Thank God we're out of the silent savior age of games.
    Cons-
    1. A lot of times, I felt like I'd heard "this music" somewhere before. Obviously they wrote the music for the game, I'm not saying they ripped off some major motion picture, but it's just generic. Being that music is important, this one hits worse than the usual cons.
    2. Not enough background noise. We're in the mountains, is the wildlife dead? Where's the wind and splashing water on the coast?
    Game Play: 2/10
    Pros-
    1. Combat flows better than the original.
    2. Warriors actually do stuff to have top dps, not just dual wield and eat all their stamina with sustained buffs.
    Cons- 1. It's hard to justify more than one mage. Their cooldowns are just too long, all you want is the brittle for your warriors/rogues.
    2. Gearing sucks. I agree with locking us based on the primary stat (Strength, dexterity, or magic), but not so much the secondary one (constitution, cunning, or willpower). Not all my warriors are tanks, some of my mages might be blood. I guess the rogue one doesn't really matter, cunning is useful.
    3. Interaction sucks. I liked in Dragon Age when I couldn't tell how they might like my reaction based on a pretty picture in the middle. For the most part, this isn't too bad, but it seriously tosses you insta-romance. There's no struggle there, and I hate it.
    4. I can't think of many games that require me to constantly pause in combat to beat a boss. The tactics menu is still a joke.
    5. Depending too much on user addons, which are hard to put out without an updated addon creator.
    6. Can't change my allies actual armor, just upgrade it. Even then, I can't honestly see a difference. Maybe I need all four upgrades, but there should be intermediate steps at least.
    7. I know this doesn't bother everyone, but I hate not having everyone in my active party. I guess they'd better fix 4 first, otherwise I'd be pausing every half-second.
    8. Why can't everyone have a specialized talent tree? It sucks that I have to choose from four characters to be on my team because the other four don't get a character-specific talent tree.
    9. Combat is way too repetitive. 10. Story is too linear. When I think successful RPG, I think of things like Morrowind with a much more open-world environment.    … Expand
  94. tuttifrutas
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    the game is very disappointing. The graphics seem dated, the music is ok, the game-play is simplified and poses no challenge at all for experienced rpg gamers. LOTS of the recycled content. it is the same layout for all caverns, almost all houses, and almost everything has the same type of texture applied.
    But the City Hub system is the worse, i never seen so many loading screen in my    the game is very disappointing. The graphics seem dated, the music is ok, the game-play is simplified and poses no challenge at all for experienced rpg gamers. LOTS of the recycled content. it is the same layout for all caverns, almost all houses, and almost everything has the same type of texture applied.
    But the City Hub system is the worse, i never seen so many loading screen in my life. initiate quest in district A , goto hub, Loading, do quest in district B, goto hub, Loading, finish quest in district A. This system makes the game a chore. just go play DAO this one is just plain boring.    … Expand
  95. clawbytes
    Mar 14, 2011
    3
    An insult to anyone who enjoyed the first game. How the hell can you screw up a good game? The formula to making a decent sequel isn't hard to figure out. Just simply BUILD ON TOP OF WHAT YOU HAVE. Instead, Bioware took out everything great about the first game. Players aren't given the choice to choose their own races this time around. This would be bearable, except your companions aren'tAn insult to anyone who enjoyed the first game. How the hell can you screw up a good game? The formula to making a decent sequel isn't hard to figure out. Just simply BUILD ON TOP OF WHAT YOU HAVE. Instead, Bioware took out everything great about the first game. Players aren't given the choice to choose their own races this time around. This would be bearable, except your companions aren't exactly diverse either. Aside from a shaved Dwarf that looks exactly human (save the height), an emo Elf and another popsicle stick she-elf, the rest of your team comprises of boring human characters. Let's say you wouldn't mind that either, but would you care if you spend the MAJORITY of your time doing quests in a town? I won't even go into the half-baked direction in story line. The developers clearly took a page from the 2004 Chinese movie Hero, except from the exaggerated tale in the beginning, the rest of the story becomes linear as hell. Your role in the story doesn't fare too well either. You don't become anywhere as great as humanity's savior, instead you run around town settling a petty political dispute. If that's also not so bad? You rarely fight Darkspawn this time around. All you fight are rouge mages and bandits. For the fans who insists on playing the game, don't buy it. Rent it or wait for the price to drop, which I'm sure won't take long since the game is so crappy anyways. Or if you've never played any game in the series, just get the first one. At least then you'll understand why I'm so mad.… Expand
  96. DetonNation
    Mar 15, 2011
    3
    What a disappointment... I went out and picked up the game first thing. Repetitive environments! Lack of a story that makes you want to play. I think I notice some of the same environments from Dragon Age 1. They are just recycled! The first Dragon Age was so cool. This one leaves me cold.
  97. Greyhammer
    Mar 15, 2011
    3
    What a disappointment. This is not worthy of Bioware or Dragon Age Origins. The game is dumbed down to the point of no longer being an RPG but a dynasty warriors game with worse dialog.
  98. Suleiman
    Mar 16, 2011
    3
    Per quanto concerne la mia esperienza di gioco, in un'ottica GDR, dopo diverse ore di gioco a questo nuovo titolo, devo dire che è davvero poco appagante.
    Non c'è immersione: ci si limita a galleggiare in superficie, intuendo che poteva esser fatto molto di più.
    La grafica è abbastanza curata, anche se preferivo i toni più    Per quanto concerne la mia esperienza di gioco, in un'ottica GDR, dopo diverse ore di gioco a questo nuovo titolo, devo dire che è davvero poco appagante.
    Non c'è immersione: ci si limita a galleggiare in superficie, intuendo che poteva esser fatto molto di più.
    La grafica è abbastanza curata, anche se preferivo i toni più maturi di DAO. Quello che non va proprio bene è che ci saranno una cinquantina di location che vengono riproposte allo sfinimento, il che non aiuta certo ad immergersi in un gioco di ruolo, dove l'ambientazione dovrebbe essere resa minuziosamente a video.
    La grafica dei menù è a dir poco oscena. Mi chiedo, con una grafica tanto scarna, come sia stato possibile rendere il sistema di menù più confusionario rispetto al precedente DAO... mah: ci sono riusciti, proponendo, ad esempio, un sistema grafico di avanzamento nei talenti che richiede ogni volta di visualizzare un albero di skill, impedendo una visione globale ed un confronto veloce tra le varie abilità.
    Il sistema di dialoghi è abominevole: in base a quale malato ragionamento non si può più cliccare sulla esatta frase che il nostro PG dovrebbe pronunciare, con senso chiaro, ma si deve interpretare una linea di scelta che spesso ci mette in bocca cose che non volevamo dire?
    Lasciamo perdere il combat system, e la gestione dell'inventario, il sistema di crafting, la possibilità di interagiore con gli altri personaggi in senso ampio, che di ruolo qui hanno mantenuto solo ed esclusivamente la dicitura.
    Coerenza a video rispetto alle abilità dei PG, a quelle che dovrebbero essere le loro effettive capacità e limitazioni: inesistente.
    Si salva qualcosa? Forse la storia sì, quella si salva, anche se è raccontata in modo non più che discreto.

    Ma parliamo di altri aspetti: COERENZA ed IMMEDESIMAZIONE..
    Ogni mondo, quello reale, ma anche quelli immaginari, ha delle regole.
    Regole sia fisiche imposte dalla natura, forza di gravità etc, sia convenzionali imposte dalla società, sistemi giuridici, etc., sia di altro tipo.
    Queste regole sono fondamentali perché qualsiasi mondo possa funzionare.
    Stessa cosa in un gioco fantasy, in cui i personaggi si muovono in un mondo di certo immaginario, ma comunque con delle regole.
    Se, ad esempio, un mago passa tutto il suo tempo a studiare magie, di certo non avrà potuto studiare le tecniche di combattimento corpo a corpo... se volesse imparare queste tecniche dovrebbe sacrificare parte del suo tempo (leggi: punti abilità) e così si creerebbe un personaggio ibrido mago/guerriero, che però non eccelle in nessuna delle due classi.
    Stessa cosa per le caratteristiche fisiche del guerriero: un'arma a due mani implica colpi più lenti, ma più potenti.
    Insomma le "regole dei mondi" fanno sì che se tiri la coperta da una parte, la accorci dall'altra...
    E allora?
    Semplice, tutto ciò è fondamentale per due cose importantissime: CREDIBILITA' e, quindi, IMMEDESIMAZIONE.
    E l'immedesimazione è tutto ciò a cui punta un GDR.
    Se faccio venir meno il realismo fregandome delle regole, tutto il mondo immaginario creato crolla, e non è più credibile: e la mancanza di credibilità fa venir meno l'immedesimazione.
    Per questo la COERENZA è tanto importante, in ogni sistema-mondo fantasy: perché rispettando il realismo (con riferimento alle regole del mondo immaginario creato) permette l'immedesimazione.
    Se in un film di cawboy ambientato nel passato del nostro mondo ad un certo punto gli indiani si mettessero a volare come pipistrelli, lo spettatore verrebbe catapultato di forza fuori dalla storia e comincerebbe a ridere.
    In un mondo fantasy, quindi, il realismo è ancor più importante che nel mondo reale: per il semplice motivo che nel mondo reale il realismo c'è per forza... e ci mancherebbe! Mentre in un mondo immaginario va creato e mantenuto con arte e sforzo e fatica: ma è prprio da quel realismo che nasce la magia!
    Ora, Dragon Age 2 non rispetta le regole del mondo in cui è ambientato, e quindi non è credibile, e quindi non è coerente e quindi chiude le porte in faccia all'immedesimazione.
    Cosa comporta ciò? Che:
    - se DA2 fosse un DGR, sarebbe davvero un pessimo GDR
    - se DA2 fosse un gioco action, sarebbe un brutto gioco action se paragonato ad altri del genere (soprattutto dungeon siege...)
    - se DA2 fosse un misto action-GDR, lo troverei tirato via e poco studiato.

    CONCLUDENDO
    Dopo aver giocato per diverse ore la versione definitiva di DA2, purtroppo, devo confermare le mie impressioni inziali.
    Brutto gioco, fatto in fretta e male: basta guardare la ripetività delle location o la scarnissima grafica dei menù.
    Coerenza zero, tatticità zero, personaliazzione zero.
    La storia si salva, ma non è assolutamente ai livello di DAO.
    Io ragiono nell'ottica GDR, che è quello che mi aspettavo di trovare e che mi sarebbe piaciuto giocare.
    Peccato!
    Spero che alla Bio ritrovino presto il senno e sfornino un GDR che sia un GDR vero!    … Expand
  99. dirtyfinger
    Mar 18, 2011
    3
    Combat is ridiculous. Animation speed increased to the point that no strike animations are visible. Intended to speed up combat ... which it doesn't, since the increased speed is offset by higher monster hitpoints and swarms of enemies.
    also, combat has been "coolified", meaning that every standard attack is the 'Fallout 3' equivalent of 'Bloody Mess', meaning that a killing stab with a    Combat is ridiculous. Animation speed increased to the point that no strike animations are visible. Intended to speed up combat ... which it doesn't, since the increased speed is offset by higher monster hitpoints and swarms of enemies.
    also, combat has been "coolified", meaning that every standard attack is the 'Fallout 3' equivalent of 'Bloody Mess', meaning that a killing stab with a dagger causes humans to explode.

    unconvincing encounters with different factions ... you somehow are constantly forced to kill potential allies. also swarms of enemies, even if you're just on a evening stroll to the nearest tavern.

    also, maps get recycled over and over and over. sure, you're revisiting old locations very very often, but you'll see the exact same dungeon map on up to five DIFFERENT locations!
    Lazy!

    No, this game is a complete fail in the categories Bioware tried to improve.    … Expand
  100. Agarwel
    Mar 17, 2011
    3
    Real dissapointment. The dialogues and side quests itlesf are great. But thats all. Main quest is basically missing (I was not sure what Im trying to achieve in the main plot until like 35hours in the game. Till then the main plot feels like series of random side quests. Where most of them really have nothing to do with game ending). There is so few locations that it is smallest game IReal dissapointment. The dialogues and side quests itlesf are great. But thats all. Main quest is basically missing (I was not sure what Im trying to achieve in the main plot until like 35hours in the game. Till then the main plot feels like series of random side quests. Where most of them really have nothing to do with game ending). There is so few locations that it is smallest game I played in loong time. Still they managed to put around 40hours of quest into such samll environment. That means you are always fighting at the same locations over and over again. The fights are stereotype with spawning enemies without any logic. It just sents same waves again and again. Boss fight are not interesting at all. The bosses have just bigger size and HP. So you fight it like normal enemy - you just need to spent 15 minutes on it. Resulting in boredom. Considering that the enviromnent is not build for the quests, but the quest are put into generic enviromnent, the atmosphere is really low. It does not matter if you go deal with bandinds, investigate murder, releasing prisoners or dealing with blood mages. It will happen o nthe same generic street (with flegmatic NPCs around) each time. The result feels much more like a datadisk or DLC, than a full game. Its just few small locations with lots of quests thrown into them without any logic.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2011
3
#3 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2011
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 75
  3. Negative: 1 out of 75
  1. GamingExcellence
    Aug 3, 2011
    85
    I'll give Bioware points for trying to do something different in their world, but they really did have it right the first time in terms of character building and the scope of the story.
    Read full review
  2. Gaming Nexus
    May 1, 2011
    75
    Faulty game mechanics and disappointing maps, combat scenarios and storyline direction aside, Dragon Age II still has a surprising amount of intrigue hidden beneath the blemishes. The depth of character relationships, as well as the complex nature of the world of the Dragon Age franchise are a savior to a game that would otherwise forever be remembered by its mistakes.
    Read full review
  3. Game Chronicles
    Apr 22, 2011
    90
    Above all, it seems like Dragon Age II is an experiment. If you're a fan of the first game and expect a direct continuation, either in story or mechanics, you'll be disappointed. If you're not willing to put up with some rough edges and some mechanics that don't quite work as intended, you'll end up having a hard time. But if you're going for a game that has some of the best storytelling in RPGs in a while, or you're looking for a BioWare RPG to tide yourself over until Mass Effect 3, you won't do much better right now than Dragon Age II.
    Read full review
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